Harvey Milk is known as the first openly gay man to hold public office, serving on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors 1977-1978. He was assassinated, as was Mayor George Moscone, by Supervisor Dan White. Harvey Milk's life has been extensively covered in Randy Shilts' book "The Mayor of Castro Street," the documentary "The Times of Harvey Milk," and Gus Van Sant's feature film "Milk."

Add to this Patricia Loughrey's "Dear Harvey," described as "a Tribute Play." Presented by San Diego's Diversionary Theatre for the New York Fringe Festival, it plays at the Soho Playhouse through August 28.

Rather than create a dramatic work, Loughrey has assembled interviews and quotes from dozens of Harvey's staff members, coworkers, friends and family members into a patchwork-history of his achievements, some personal moments, and remembrances by those close to him. Portrayed by a company of seven actors, these figures' recollections are pieced together into a memorial valentine, and interwoven with touching original music composed and performed by Thomas Hodges.

While the ensemble is required to represent different individuals during the show, some are more successful than others in delivering distinct personalities. Standouts were Lynne Rosenberg as Anne Kronenberg, Harvey's campaign manager, and Vash Bodie as a drag Latina. Many of the other people, as represented, melt into sameness as performers deliver their speeches with faintly nostalgic tone.

The play can seem overly haphazard in its structure, as it jumps from mid-'70s to 1985 to 1968 and back to mid-'70s. True, memory may not be orderly, but theater is a medium that can hold time still for a moment, so that we can better understand a course of events.

Milk did not gain his achievements simply by being right, or by being likable. He was dynamic, vocal, a relentless firebrand, as were his staff and all those he energized. They were fighters who would lose, lose again and go at it repeatedly until they succeeded. What we see in this tribute are soft smiles and gentle voices. Everyone is nice. I wish the play had less sentiment and more strength.

All the same, by the end, what emerges is a sense of honor, an awakening to the value of our past history. We are shown how the struggles of that time have grown into the activism of today. Director Dan Kirsch has succeeded in staging a fitting presentation of this tribute.

At this writing, remaining performances at the Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, are on August 22 at 4:30 p.m., 24 at 5:45 p.m., 26 at 10 p.m., and 28 at 8:15 p.m. For tickets at $15, visit http://www.FringeNYC.org.

Following this run at FringeNYC, the play is slated for productions in Albany, Phoenix and Los Angeles.

Production promo can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2w8doPiEOU.