Act 1, Bad News, Scenes 1-3 Summary

Set in the mid-1980s, Millennium Approaches tells the story of two couples during the era of Reagan and AIDS. Louis Ironson's lover Prior Walter is dying of AIDS, and Louis can't handle the horrors of illness He leaves Prior, who begins having visions of an approaching Angel. Meanwhile, Joe Pitt, a conservative Mormon, is offered a position in the Department of Justice by high-powered attorney Roy Cohn. Joe wants to take the job, but his wife Harper is battling mental problems and addiction to Valium. Joe faces the ethical dilemmas involved in the politics of his new job opportunity, as well as his dawning realization that he's gay.

The play begins with Scene 1 at the funeral for Sarah Ironson, Louis Ironson's grandmother. Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz is speaking over her coffin. The rabbi admits that...