Attending "In the Continuum" at the Woolly Mammoth Theater is the best thing you can do to treat yourself to a night of theater while exposing yourself to a realistic, yet gentle, depiction of contemporary women suffering from HIV/AIDS. The play follows two women, one living in Zimbabwe (Danai Gurira), and another in LA (Nikkole Salter), as they react to having been diagnosed HIV positive. The juxtaposition of the two environments illuminates what a global epidemic the disease is, as well as how universal the emotions of fear, shame and isolation are for people with HIV/AIDS.
While watching the two actresses perform brilliantly in a high-energy piece for nearly two hours, it is amazing to believe that they were also the creative minds behind the play. When Salter and Gurira were in graduate school at New York University, they decided to work together on a collaborative project. In February 2004, "In the Continuum" was born and by 2005, the play had become an off-Broadway sensation.
"In the Continuum" is essentially the merging of two one-woman shows, and both actresses play five to six characters each. One of the best features of the play is the diversity in characters, and the actresses' transition from character to character is seamless. The two main characters' storylines fit together like a puzzle as the audience alternately watches a mother from Zimbabwe, Abigail, and a black teenager from LA, Nia, cope with the news of their diagnosis.
The actresses play a range of characters (friend, mother, social worker, nurse, etc.) so the audience can understand the different responses communities have toward people who are HIV positive. In Zimbabwe, Abigail is just another victim, yet her predicament is still controversial since she was a self-made woman who had worked hard to rise above the common economic and social restrictions. She must also suffer the humiliation of her community knowing that her husband had been unfaithful to her and then passed on the disease. By contracting HIV, Abigail feels reduced to being just another number in the statistic of fallen African women.
While watching the two actresses perform brilliantly in a high-energy piece for nearly two hours, it is amazing to believe that they were also the creative minds behind the play. When Salter and Gurira were in graduate school at New York University, they decided to work together on a collaborative project. In February 2004, "In the Continuum" was born and by 2005, the play had become an off-Broadway sensation.
"In the Continuum" is essentially the merging of two one-woman shows, and both actresses play five to six characters each. One of the best features of the play is the diversity in characters, and the actresses' transition from character to character is seamless. The two main characters' storylines fit together like a puzzle as the audience alternately watches a mother from Zimbabwe, Abigail, and a black teenager from LA, Nia, cope with the news of their diagnosis.
The actresses play a range of characters (friend, mother, social worker, nurse, etc.) so the audience can understand the different responses communities have toward people who are HIV positive. In Zimbabwe, Abigail is just another victim, yet her predicament is still controversial since she was a self-made woman who had worked hard to rise above the common economic and social restrictions. She must also suffer the humiliation of her community knowing that her husband had been unfaithful to her and then passed on the disease. By contracting HIV, Abigail feels reduced to being just another number in the statistic of fallen African women.
