Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika Act 3, Scene 5 Summary

  • It's the evening of the same day.
  • Louis and Joe are still onstage, but we now see Roy's hospital room as well. Roy is asleep, hooked up to his IV.
  • Belize enters with a tray and wakes Roy up.
  • Roy is really out of it because they've put morphine in his drip to help ease the pain he's in. He seems to think Belize is Death. Roy asks Belize to describe what it's like after you die.
  • "Hell or heaven?" asks Belize (3.5.23).
  • Roy looks at him like that's a stupid question.
  • Belize says it looks like San Francisco.
  • He describes it as overgrown and barren. There's lots of music and lights, and people of mixed race and ambiguous gender dance all the time. "Race, taste, and history finally overcome. And you ain't there," Belize tells the dying man (3.5.32).
  • Awesome, says Roy, and what does Heaven look like?
  • "That was Heaven, Roy," says Belize (3.5.34).
  • "The f*** is was," replies Roy (3.5.35).
  • Roy asks who Belize is.
  • "Your negation," whispers Belize (3.5.36).
  • The ghost of Ethel Rosenberg enters.
  • Belize tells Roy, "I'm just a shadow on your grave" (3.5.38).