A new event is being staged to help pull the shroud off AIDS.

The Daedalus Project is an event starting at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Waterville Opera House.

The event is named for Daedalus, the legendary builder who makes wings to enable himself and his son, Icarus, to escape imprisonment.

“Daedalus was a wise man who used his intelligence to work himself out of his entrapment,” said Tara Estra, the event’s organizer. “Hopefully this will do the same for people with AIDS, to free them from their entrapment.”

The doors for the event open at 7 p.m. AIDS information tables will be set up throughout the opera house. Also 50 to 60 items will go up for bid at a silent auction.

Panels from the Names Project of Portland’s AIDS Memorial Quilt will be hung throughout the building. Each panel represents someone that has died from AIDS, and is made by friends and family members.

“Each panel represents a Maine individual, which brings this project down to a personal level,” said Estra, a sophomore at Colby College.

Capping off the evening will be a variety show, with 20 acts, held at 8 p.m. A small donation is requested for admission to the variety show.

Proceeds from the event will go to the Maine AIDS Alliance. Estra said the alliance lends support to those with AIDS in Maine and also works to educate the public.

Estra hopes to change people’s perceptions about AIDS with the event.

“We want this to be a colorful celebration of life for those living with AIDS, and a remembrance of those who’ve died,” she said.

The Daedalus Project was founded in 1988 by actor Rex Rabold in Ashland, Ore., in response to a growing needs for AIDS awareness and education.

While taking classes in Ashland, Estra met and became friends with Rabold, who died from AIDS in 1990. His dream lives on with her.

“I found out there wasn’t much awareness of AIDS in Waterville and the surrounding areas,” said Estra, a Manhattan native. “I was inspired by Rex, and decided to bring it here.”

Estra said the recent disclosure by pro basketball star Magic Johnson that he has the HIV virus has to have a positive effect, both on AIDS awareness and the Daedalus Project.

“Here is a well-known, straight basketball player coming forward,” said Estra, a soccer player at Colby. “When people hear about Magic, it will help to remove the stereotypes, and ease the communication barrier in teaching about AIDS. Also, it will draw more people to the benefit, as people will feel it’s all right to attend.”

She added that the early response to the project has been slow.

“What response we have gotten has been positive,” Estra said. “They say, `What a wonderful idea! This is just what this community needs.’ It makes up for the people who get to the word AIDS and look away.”

To summarize the project, Estra offered a quote from Shakespeare’s “A Winter’s Tale”: “It is required you do awake your faith.”

“That encompasses the whole AIDS situation in the U.S.,” she said. “You’ve got to awaken awareness and educate yourself. Sooner or later it’s going to affect you, so you’ve got to awaken your faith that we can do something about it.”

For more information, call the Daedalus Project at 872-3464, Extension 6543.