Taking Issue

"Issue plays" are so called because they don't rise above their agendas to become "good plays."

by Mark Cofta

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Published: Mar 27, 2007

So-called "issue plays" earn that dismissive categorization because they don't rise above the creators' agenda to become "good plays." In its first moments, In the Continuum teeters on the brink. Two women clad in black tights play a children's game. The action seems contrived in an overearnest, collegiate-acting-class way.

IN THE MOMENT: Nikkole Salter (above) co-wrote In The Continuum with Danai Gurira. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Writers and performers Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter soon settle into mirror-image stories: Gurira plays Abigail, an educated Zimbabwean broadcaster, and Salter is American urban teen Nia. Each overflows with hopes and dreams as well as busy, messy lives, centered around men who aren't as monogamous as they seem.

Both women discover, on the same day, that they're pregnant — but the good news is shattered by the terrible revelation that each has HIV.

We never meet the men; the only male represented is Gurira's hilarious writhing, ranting witch doctor, who tells Abigail "you're nothing special." Gurira and Salter play many of the women in their characters' lives, most quirkily amusing, even those who maddeningly support the oblivious men. "Look at these trophies," says NBA prospect Darnell's mother to Nia. "Do these look like AIDS to you?" In America, Nia worries about her financial future, while in Africa, Abigail fears for her life: a husband might call her a whore and throw her out, with his family's blessings.

In the Continuum, produced by Primary Stages and the Perry Street Theatre and presented by the Philadelphia Theatre Company, doesn't recite statistics, assign blame or wallow in grim scenarios. Instead, Gurira and Salter create (with little more than a few scarves, two stools, and some hand props) vivid, living personalities striving to take control of their lives. Their deeply moving script, surprisingly warm and funny, is essentially two overlapping one-woman plays that build to a conclusion greater than the sum of its parts.

"Issue plays" earn their label with impersonal overviews and bland hypothetical examples; In the Continuum makes the AIDS epidemic undeniably real and personal.

(m_cofta@citypaper.net)

In the Continuum, Through April 15,Philadelphia Theatre Company, Plays & Players Theater, 1714 Delancey St., 215-985-0420, www.phillytheatreco.com

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