Wes enters and sits on the floor writing on the edge of a Quilt Block with a magic marker. He writes to his friend, Philip, who has recently died, welcoming him to eternity. He talks of how he initially had to be dragged to Washington to see the Quilt, but leaves happy that he came. Although it has taken a long time, the silence surrounding AIDS has at last been broken. The Quilt Block goes up in the air. The cast enters. It is now clear that the audience will be meeting the people whose lives (past and present) make up this wonderful Quilt. WES 1 MAY 1 An alarm goes off and Wes whom we met at the Quilt in the previous scene enters. He looks upward and talks to Philip, his dead lover, and tells him how much he misses him. Wes is also HIV+ and confesses that he has considered killing himself, but that making a memorial panel for Philip has given him a reason to live a while longer. He has also started volunteering at the Gay and Lesbian Centre Quilting Workshop. Although this is fulfilling, he still has a prescription that can end his life and he looks ahead to a time when he can join Philip. KAREN'S SONG 9:00 a.m. We see Karen in a bathrobe. She is thirty-five, attractive, intelligent, thin and hyper. She carries two large shopping bags and transfers items meaninglessly from one bag to the other. She is finishing a call on a cordless phone and is finding out that the Gay and Lesbian Centre is open and is offering its Quilting Workshop today - July 4. She plans on going to the centre, but is very nervous since she isn't gay. She realises that she just needs to go. She has all of her fabric and thread to make her panel. FAMILY VALUES Cordelia Winthrop is a stately and regal 70-year-old woman. She wonders how her granddaughter, Allison, could have died of AIDS, coming from such a fine family background. Cordelia commissioned this Quilt panel for her granddaughter; however, she won't let the family name be put on it. Vernon Duke, a Southern dirt farmer, wonders how his son, Jeb, could have contracted AIDS living in a small Southern town. A robber at an all-night gas station shot him down and killed him. When he was dying, he asked that his body be given to help others. Unfortunately, those body parts contained HIV. Maria is a Hispanic woman whose son, Hector, received one of Jeb's kidneys. Hector has since died. Mrs. Polaski, who comes from a small town in Ohio, thinks that it is all gossip when people say that her son, Christopher, died of AIDS. He died of pneumonia. And his roommate was just a friend! HOT SEX Mikey and the Back-Up Boyz are dressed in hip clothing, and look and perform like a rap group. Mike is a straight boy who loves his hot sex. His teacher wants him to go on a field trip to see the AIDS Quilt. He has no interest in going, but if he doesn't he'll fail his class, so he decides to go. When he sees the Quilt, he notices a panel that is dedicated to Peggy Parker, the first girl with whom he ever had sex. She moved away two years ago from his town. This terrifies Mike, but he still tries to talk himself out of it, saying that maybe it was a different Peggy Parker. Mike believes that because he is not a drug user or a homosexual he is safe from AIDS. WES 2 JUNE 25 Wes is at The Quilt Workshop at the Gay and Lesbian Centre talking once again to Philip up above. Today is Gay Pride Day , and Wes is organising things at the Centre while celebrating the 19th anniversary of Judy Garland's death. He thinks back on how life was for all gays before and after Stonewall and how far everyone has come. Wes isn't feeling that well and is going in to have some routine blood tests. He senses that he might be joining Philip soon. AT A DISTANCE Paul, a photographer, enters with a camera around his neck. He made a panel for his brother Peter. Paul had a hard time accepting his brother's life-style and only came to terms with it after his death. In an attempt to make amends for time lost, he began volunteering at GMHC as a buddy, providing ongoing support
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