Act 2, In Vitro, Scenes 8-10 Summary

As Scene 8 opens, Joe is a payphone, calling his mother, Hannah, who is in Utah. His mother is concerned. It's 4:00 a.m., and she can hear that Joe is on the street. Joe says that he just wants to talk to her, and his mother realizes that he's drunk. She tells him to go home. Joe tells her that he comes to Central Park to "watch" sometimes and asks if he father loved him. Then he tells his mother that he's gay. At first, she doesn't respond. Then, she says he's being ridiculous. She tells him to go home to his wife and says she's going to pretend the whole conversation never happened. Chastising him that drinking's a sin, Joe's mother hangs up on him.

Scene 9 takes place the following morning. It is split between...