Angels in America by Tony Kushner Read Free Book Online Page A

antidiscrimination bill through City Council. Homosexuals are men who know nobody and who nobody knows. Who have zero clout. Does this sound like me, Henry?
    HENRY : No.
    ROY : No. I have clout. A lot. I can pick up this phone, punch fifteen numbers, and you know who will be on the other end in under five minutes, Henry?
    HENRY : The president.
    ROY : Even better, Henry. His wife.
    HENRY : I’m impressed.
    ROY : I don’t want you to be impressed. I want you to understand. This is not sophistry. And this is not hypocrisy. This is reality. I have sex with men. But unlike nearly every other man of whom this is true, I bring the guy I’m screwing to the White House and President Reagansmiles at us and shakes his hand. Because what I am is defined entirely by who I am. Roy Cohn is not a homosexual. Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man, Henry, who fucks around with guys.
    HENRY : OK, Roy.
    ROY : And what is my diagnosis, Henry?
    HENRY : You have AIDS, Roy.
    ROY : No , Henry, no . AIDS is what homosexuals have. I have liver cancer.
    (Little pause.)
    HENRY : Well, whatever the fuck you have, Roy, it’s very serious, and I haven’t got a damn thing for you. The NIH in Bethesda has a new drug called AZT with a two-year waiting list that not even I can get you onto. So get on the phone, Roy, and dial the fifteen numbers, and tell the First Lady you need in on an experimental treatment for liver cancer, because you can call it any damn thing you want, Roy, but what it boils down to is very bad news.

ACT TWO:
    In Vitro
    December 1985
    Scene 1
    The first week in December. Night. Prior in his underwear alone on the floor in the hallway outside his bedroom; he is much worse .
    PRIOR : Louis, Louis, please wake up, oh God.
    (Louis runs in.)
    PRIOR : I think something horrible is wrong with me I can’t breathe . . .
    LOUIS (Starting to exit) : I’m calling the ambulance.
    PRIOR : No, wait, I—
    LOUIS : Wait? Are you fucking crazy? Oh God you’re on fire, your head is on fire.
    PRIOR : It hurts, it hurts . . .
    LOUIS : I’m calling the ambulance.
    PRIOR : I don’t want to go to the hospital, I don’t want to go to the hospital please let me lie here, just—
    LOUIS : No, no, God, Prior, stand up—
    PRIOR : DON’T TOUCH MY LEG!
    LOUIS : We have to . . . Oh God this is so crazy.
    PRIOR : I’ll be OK if I just lie here Lou, really, if I can only sleep a little . . .
    (Louis exits.)
    PRIOR : Louis?
    Â Â Â Â Â  NO! NO! Don’t call, you’ll send me there and I won’t come back, please, please Louis I’m begging, baby, please.
    Â Â Â Â Â  (Screams) LOUIS!!
    LOUIS (From off; hysterical) : WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!
    PRIOR (Trying to stand) : Aaaah. I have . . . to go to the bathroom. Wait. Wait, just—Oh. Oh God. (He shits himself)
    LOUIS (Entering) : Prior? They’ll be here in—
    Â Â Â Â Â  Oh my God.
    PRIOR : I’m sorry, I’m sorry.
    LOUIS : What did . . .? What?
    PRIOR : I had an accident.
    (Louis goes to him.)
    LOUIS : This is blood.
    PRIOR : Maybe you shouldn’t touch it . . . me . . . I . . . (He faints)
    LOUIS (Quietly) : Oh help. Oh help. Oh God oh God oh God help me I can’t I can’t I can’t.
    Scene 2
    Night. Harper at home, sitting on the floor, all alone, with no lights on. We can barely see her. Joe enters, but he doesn’t turn on the lights .
    JOE : Why are you sitting in the dark? Turn on the light.
    HARPER : No . I heard the sounds in the bedroom again. I know someone was in there.
    JOE : No one was.
    HARPER : Maybe actually in the bed, under the covers with a knife.
    Â Â Â Â Â  Oh, boy. Joe. I, um, I’m thinking of going away. By which I mean: I think I’m going off again. You . . . you know what I mean?
    JOE : Please don’t. Stay. We can fix it. I pray for that. This is my fault, but I can correct it. You have to try, too.
    (Joe walks to a floor lamp and switches on the