New York, 1981. As
the play opens, Ned Weeks sits outside a doctor’s office with a friend who has
developed worrisome symptoms of a mysterious “plague” that strikes
homosexuals. The doctor, Emma Brookner,
complains that she cannot make headway in getting the gay community to take the
threat seriously. This encounter
inspires Ned, a writer, to dedicate himself to becoming the spokesman for the
growing ranks of disenfranchised patients. He attempts to convert others to his
cause, including his heterosexual brother, a closeted bank executive, and a reporter
for the New York Times (whom he begins to date). When it becomes clear that the City is not
interested in assisting, he co-founds a grassroots activist organization. As the epidemic veers out of control, the man
he loves falls ill as well. Over time,
Ned’s abrasive, confrontational approach, as well as his focus on abstinence,
makes him many enemies within the gay community. Ultimately, he is forced out of his own
organization. At the same time, there
are hints that, as a result of his work, the disease is beginning to be taken
seriously. At the end of the play, Ned’s
lover Felix becomes the latest gay man to succumb to the epidemic.
