ANcrr.

s ru Aurnrca
MtlleNNruwr AppnoRcHrs
resistibly strong, seize . . . maybe the
person next to you,
maybe you, and with no warning at alt,
Like Kaposi's sarcomas. These lesions. Oryour throat
with time onty for problem. Or the glands.
a quick intake of air you are pitched into
freezing, tur_ We think it rnay also be able to slip past the blood-
bulent water and salt and darkness to drown.
I like your cosmology, baby. While time is running brain barrier into the brain. Which is of course very bad
news.
out I find myselfdrawn to anything that,s
suspended, that And it's fatal in we dont knowwhat percent of people
lacks an ending-but it seems to-*.
th"t iilets you off with suppressed immune responses.
scot-free.
Lours: What do you meanl
pRroR: No judgment, (Pause.)
no guilt or responsibilityr
Lours: For me-
pRroR: Fbr anyone. It noy: This is very interesting, Mr. Wizard, but why the fuck
was an editorial ,,you."
Lours: Please get better. please. are you telling me this?

Please dont get any sicker.

(Pause.)

Ir l:NRy: Well, I have just removed one of three lesions which

Scene 9 biopsy results will probably tell us is a Kaposi's sarcoma
I
lesion. And you have a pronounced swelling of glands in
Tltird your neck, groin, and armpits-lymphadenopathy is an-
ueeà. in Noaember Roy and Henry, bis doctor, in other sign. And you have oral candidiasis and maybe a
Henry's ffice.
little more fungus under the fingernails of two digits on
HENRv: Nobody knows what causes your right hand. So thatt why . . .
it. And nobody knows rrov: This disease . . .
how to cure it. The best theory is that we
blame a retro_ rrìNRY: Syndrome.
virus, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
Its presence Hov: Whatever. It afHicts mosdy homosexuals and drug ad-
is made known to us by the useless antibodieì
which ilicts.
appear in reaction to its entrance into the bloodstream
ur')Nrìy: Mostly. Hemophiliacs are also at risk.
through a cut, or an orifice. The antibodies
are powerless rtov: I lomosexuals and drug addicts. So why are you implying
to protect the body against it. Why,
we dont know. The thatI...
immune system ceases to function. Sometimes
lody's the (Pause)
body even attacks itself At any rate
it,s left open ro a What are you implying, Henry?
whole horror house of infections from
usually defends against.
microbes which it rrNny:ldont...
rr,rr': lìn not a drug addict.
+8
49
 Arucrls rru AurRlca
Mru,nNNruu Appnonenes
HENRv: Oh come on Roy.
nov: What, what, come on Roy nov: So say it.
whatl f)o you think I m a HENRY: Roy Cohn, you are . . .
junkie, Henry, do you see tracks?
HENRy: This is absurd. You have had sex with men, many many times, Roy,
nov: Say it. and one of them, or any number of them, has made you
HENRv: Say what? very siclc You have AIDS.
rov: nov: AIDS.
Say, "Roy Cohn, you are a .. .,,
unr,inv: Roy. Your problem, Henry is that )rou are hung up on
words, on la.bels, that you believe they mean what they
RoY: "You are a. . ." Go Not "Roy Cohn you are a dnrg
31.
fiend." "Roy Marcus Cohn, you
seem to mean. AIDS. Homosexual. Gay. Lesbian. You
are a . , .,, think these are names that tell you who someone sleeps
Go on, [Ienry, it starts with an ,,I{,,,
I{ENRv: Oh I'm not going to . with, but they dont tell you that.
.. Hpnnv: No?
nov: Witlt an "H," Henry, and it isnt "Hemophiliac.,,
Come nov: No. Like all labels they tell you one thing and one thing
on.
HtrNRyj What are you doing, Roy? only: where does an individual so identified fit in the food
noy: No, say it. I mean it. Say: ,,Àoy chain, in the pecking order? Not ideology, or sorual taste,
Cohn, you are a homo_ but something much simpler: clout. Not who I fuck or
sexual.'
(Pause)
who fuclc me, but who will pick up the phone when I call,
who owes me favors. This is what a label refers to. Now to
And I will proceed, systematically, to destroy your
reputation and your practice and someone who does not understand this, homosenual is
your .".... i., New york
State, Henry. Which you kro*i what I am because I have sex with men. But really this is
can do.
wrong. Homosexuals are not men who sleep with other
(Paau.) men. Homosexuals are men who in fifteen years of trying
cannot get a pissant antidiscrimination bill through City
HENRv: Roy, you hav_e.been Council. Ftromosexuals are men who know nobody and
seeing me since r95g. Apart
from the facelifts I have treatejyou who nobody knows. Who have zero clout. Does this
fo, everything from sound like me, Henryl
syphilis. . .
noy: From a whore in Dallas. xrnnv: No.
From slphilis ro venereal warts. noy: No. I have clout. A lot. I can pick up this phone, punch
""*l::Which In your rectum. fifteen number§, and you know who will be on the other
you may have gotten from a whore in Dallas, but
it wasnt end in under five minutes, Henryì
a female whore.
HENRY: The President.

(Pause.) nov: Even better, Henry. His wife.

HENRY: I'm impressed.
5o
5r
 ANcnLs lN Alrrnrca
r.oy: I dont want you to be impressecl. I want you to under_
stand. This is not sophistry And this is not
hypocrisy.
This is reahty. I have sex with men. But unlike nearly
every other man ofwhom this is tme, I bring
ACT TWO:
the guy I m
screwing to the White House an,l president
É.eoga,
smiles at us and shakes his hand. Because rubat
I am is
defined entirely by wbo I am. Roy Cohn is not
sexual. Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man,
fucks around with guys.
a homo_
I,Ienry who In'Uitro
HENRv: OK, Roy.
December ry$5-January ry86
noy: AnrJ what is my diagnosis, }:Ienry?
TIENRv: You have AIDS, Roy.
Rov: No, I-Ienry, no. AIDS is what homosexunls
have. I have
liver cancer.

(Pause.)
Scene r
ffi Night, the third ateek in December. Prior alone on tltefoor of
noruny: \4/ell, whatever the fuckyou have, Roy,
it,s very serious, bis bedroon; he is nucb worse.
,iì and I havent got a damn thing for pu. The-NIH in
f$ Bethesda has a new drug cailej AZT yvitha ,nr()R: Louis, Louis, please wake up, oh God.
rwo_year
waiting list that not even I can get you onto. So
get on the
,t| phone, Roy, and dial the fifteen numbers, (Louis runs in.)
and tell the First
i Ladyyou need in on an experimental treatment
for liver
because you can call
it any damn thing you want,
:rncer, rnr()rì: I think something horrible is wrong with me I can't
Roy, but what it boils down to is very bad
news. lrreathe . . .

r rtuts, (§s67sing to exit): I'm calling the ambulance.

'rr)n:No,wait, I...
r t tu 15,1 l,)[fui|] Are you fucking crazy? Oh God you're on fire,
y,,rrr head is on fire.
r'rr()r: [t hurts, it hurts,. ,
r,,ur,i: I'rn calling the ambulance.
r.r,r()r: I tlon't want to go to the hospital, I dontwant to go to
tlr«: lrospital please let me lie here, just . . .

52
53