Characters
Prior Walter
Prior Walter is a thirty-one-year-old man stricken with AIDS. As his condition deteriorates, he is abandoned by his lover, Louis Ironson. Hailing from a long-established American and British lineage, Prior is chosen by the Angels to deliver a message to humanity, urging them to cease their endless quest for change and to stop pursuing unresolvable questions. However, Prior defies this celestial mandate. After a struggle with the Angel, he gains entry to heaven where he challenges the angelic council, refusing the role of prophet and advocating for humanity's unyielding drive toward progress. Despite the agony of his condition, Prior requests more life, declaring his will to endure.
Louis Ironson
Louis Ironson works as a word processor for the Second Court of Appeals in Brooklyn. He is deeply engaged in Marxist and leftist ideologies and has a penchant for intellectualizing his experiences. Confronted with Prior's deteriorating health, Louis finds himself unable to cope and subsequently leaves him. He enters into an affair with Joe Pitt and attempts to rationalize Joe's selfishness. However, upon discovering Joe's involvement in several conservative court decisions, Louis provokes Joe into a violent confrontation. Eventually, Louis returns to Prior, seeking forgiveness, but Prior, though still in love with him, refuses reconciliation.
Roy M. Cohn
Roy M. Cohn is a fictionalized version of the infamous lawyer known for his influence in conservative politics. Cohn, an aggressive and sometimes charming figure, is unafraid of legal boundaries. Notoriously, he played a significant role in the treason trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, lobbying for Ethel's execution. Secretly battling AIDS, Cohn refuses to acknowledge his homosexuality and attempts to protect his law practice from the New York State Bar's scrutiny. He enlists Joe Pitt to take a Washington job to safeguard his interests. Cohn is persistently haunted by Ethel Rosenberg's ghost but remains combative until his demise, after which he serves as God’s lawyer.
Joseph Porter Pitt
Joseph Porter Pitt is a Mormon from Salt Lake City, serving as chief clerk for a federal appeals court judge. Joe is torn between his conservative values and suppressed homosexual inclinations. He cherishes his wife, Harper, but feels detached from her both physically and emotionally. His internal struggle and admiration for Roy Cohn lead him to pursue a relationship with Louis Ironson, ultimately abandoning Harper. Despite his respect for Cohn, he cannot emulate his ruthlessness. In the end, Joe is left isolated, forsaken by both Harper and Louis.
Harper Amaty Pitt
Harper Amaty Pitt is Joe's wife, struggling with agoraphobia and a dependency on Valium. Often retreating into dreams and fantasies, she encounters Prior Walter in her visions. Despite her unconditional love for Joe, Harper feels betrayed and decides to forge her path, leaving for San Francisco to seek independence.
Hannah Porter Pitt
Hannah Porter Pitt, Joe's pragmatic and sensible mother, is a devout Mormon with limited biases. Upon learning of Joe's homosexuality, she relocates from Salt Lake City to New York to support Harper and Prior. Hannah helps Prior interpret his visions and ultimately chooses to stay in New York with him.
Belize
Belize, also known as Norman Arriaga, is an African American nurse and former drag queen. A past lover of Prior, Belize provides care for both Prior and Roy Cohn. Despite his loathing for Cohn's beliefs, Belize aids him out of solidarity as a fellow gay man dying of AIDS. He urges Louis to recite the Kaddish for Cohn after his death. Belize is characterized by his sharp wit and biting humor, engaging in heated debates with Louis over politics and race. Regardless of his acerbic demeanor, Belize's actions...
(This entire section contains 1249 words.)
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are consistently altruistic, akin to an earthly angel.
The Angel
The Angel, known as the Continental Principality of America, serves as heaven's emissary. With God having departed heaven in 1908, absorbed by human evolution and creativity, the celestial realm is in disarray. The Angel seeks Prior to implore humankind to cease their perpetual change in hopes of enticing God’s return.
Sister Ella Chapter
Sister Ella Chapter appears briefly in Millennium Approaches as Hannah Pitt's friend in Salt Lake City, assisting her in selling her home. A steadfast advocate for staying rooted, she views Salt Lake City as the ideal place for Mormons to settle.
Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz
Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz is present at Sarah Ironson's funeral in Millennium Approaches and later appears in Perestroika playing cards in Heaven. His eulogy sets the play's tone, cautioning that soon the old will perish, highlighting a theme of inevitable change.
Continental Principalities
The Continental Principalities are a collective of seven angels, each representing a world continent. Assembled in their heavenly council, they preside over the ailing state of Earth. Despite their grandeur, they squabble and appear remarkably human. Tasked with convincing Prior to become their Prophet, they fail, leading Prior to mockingly suggest legal action against God, which they pursue with Cohn as their counsel.
Emily
Emily is a compassionate nurse at Saint Vincent's Hospital, caring for Prior during his admissions. She provides a beacon of hope, encouraging him to find ways to cope with his condition.
Martin Heller
Martin Heller is a Justice Department lawyer and Roy Cohn's ally. He briefly appears to persuade Joe to join the department to further Cohn's interests, embodying the extreme conservative voice in the play.
Doctor Henry
Doctor Henry, Roy Cohn’s long-term physician, is aware of Cohn's denial about his sexuality. He informs Cohn of his AIDS diagnosis but is coerced into falsifying records to mask the illness as liver cancer.
Sarah Ironson
Sarah Ironson, Louis's grandmother, is posthumously honored by Rabbi Chemelwitz as "the last of the Mohicans." A Russian-Jewish immigrant, she built a family in New York. In Heaven, she advises Prior to challenge the divine, reflecting her resilient spirit.
Mr. Lies
Mr. Lies, Harper's imaginary confidant, takes shape as a travel agent. He provides her with escapism from reality and occasionally guides her back to confronting her issues.
Man in the Park
The Man in the Park is an anonymous figure Louis encounters after leaving Prior's bedside. Their interaction is brief and chaotic, culminating in the man's abrupt departure during an intimate moment.
Mannequins
The Mannequins, displayed at the Mormon Visitor's Center, depict a frontier family journeying to Salt Lake City. In a surreal twist, the figures animate and engage with Prior and Harper, symbolizing the intersection of faith and reality.
Aleksii Antedilluvianovich Prelapsarianov
Aleksii Antedilluvianovich Prelapsarianov, heralded as the "World's Oldest Living Bolshevik," delivers a rousing speech in Perestroika advocating for political change, countering the Angels' disdain for evolution.
Prior 1
Prior 1 is a spectral ancestor of Prior Walter from the thirteenth century. As a harbinger for the Angel, he draws parallels between Prior's illness and the pestilence that claimed his own life.
Prior 2
Prior 2, another ghostly forebear from seventeenth-century London, also heralds the Angel's arrival to Prior. Like his counterpart, he succumbed to a historical plague, seeing reflections of his fate in Prior's struggle.
Ethel Rosenberg
In life, Ethel Rosenberg was executed alongside her husband for espionage, a fate sealed by Roy Cohn's prosecution. In the play, she torments Cohn from the afterlife, serving as a constant reminder of his misdeeds. In a final act of deceit, Cohn coaxes her into singing a lullaby before his death.
Woman in the South Bronx
The Woman in the South Bronx, a homeless individual, interacts with Hannah upon her New York arrival. Her erratic behavior and dire predictions about the coming century underscore the play's exploration of mental instability and social decay.
