Status Update
Young, queer Black men fi ght against being defi ned by HIV
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
Playwright Donja R. Love
(“Sugar in Our Wounds”)
has a healthy obsession
with numbers. The title
of his urgent, provocative drama,
“One in Two,” refers to a littleknown
yet alarming statistic from
a 2016 CDC study projecting that
one in two Black gay and bisexual
men will be diagnosed with HIV in
their lifetime.
Love, who is Black and has
wrestled with the stigma of being
HIV-positive for more than a decade,
deemed this fi gure so shocking,
so ludicrous, he decided to
create an absurdist drama about
it. The piece draws not only from
his own deeply personal story but
also experiences of others in his
community.
We can detect shades of Beckett,
for sure. Three young, queer Black
men are in a state of suspended
animation, a kind of purgatory, as
they sit in a health clinic waiting
room listening for their number
to be called. They are, as you may
have guessed, wracked with dread
awaiting results of their HIV tests.
“I am not a number!” one of them
snarls.
The remainder of the play illustrates,
with caustic humor and
grace, just how dehumanizing being
poz can be for this often neglected
segment of the population.
Instead of having names, the men
are known as Number One, Number
Two, or Number Three, based
on the level of audience applause
at the top of the play. They even
don shirts emblazoned with their
number so we can keep track. This
decision is fairly random, however,
since we know zilch about these
guys and have no basis for clapping
louder or softer. Perhaps this
is intended to echo the arbitrary
aspect of acquiring HIV.
In the performance I saw, the audience
chose actor Edward Mawere
to portray Number One (aka Donté)
who is HIV-positive. Jamyl Dobson
played the role of Number Two and
Leland Fowler was Number Three.
Donté appears to be a stand-in for
the playwright himself.
In this surreal, nightmarish
realm, the three men act out
fraught scenarios from Donté’s life
— HIV disclosure to his ex-boyfriend
and to his mother, sloppy
nights alone in gay bars, attending
an HIV support group, coping
with debilitating side effects from
meds, and wild hookups with
dudes with screen handles like
TRADEHUNGLIKEAHORSE_99.
In one of the more affecting
scenes, Donté is dumbstruck upon
hearing that he indeed has contracted
HIV, despite the nurse’s
reassurance: “You can get through
this. Your status will not be the
most interesting thing about you.”
Those words were not enough to
calm his shame and self-loathing.
While all the performances are
fi rst-rate, I couldn’t help but marvel
at the versatility of Dobson, who
expertly juggled supporting roles
such as Donté’s loving Mom, the
hung hookup, and “Banjii Cunt at
the Center.” Fowler did a fi ne job of
tackling secondary roles like “Kinda
Ex-Boyfriend” with panache.
Which is even more astounding
when you realize that these actors
must master every role and every
line of dialogue. Remember, the
roles rotate each night based on
the whim of the audience.
Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb,
“One in Two” offers a daring take
on a subject rarely seen on a mainstream
stage. As Number One
states, “There are so many stories
of people dying from AIDS, but not
living with HIV.”
Arnulfo Maldonado has created
an ideal backdrop for this absurdist
enterprise. It’s an all-white
“black box” which looks more like
a bathhouse steam room than a
waiting room, especially at the
start when the men silently lounge
around shirtless. The set contains
hidden drawers fi lled with props
and extensions that morph into a
liquor bar or a bed.
The set is topped by screens that
display large numbers increasing
during the course of the 90-minute
piece. These racing digits not
only signify the growing cases of
THEATER
Jamyl Dobson and Edward Mawere in Donja R. Love’s “One in Two,” directed by Stevie Walker-Webb at
at the Pershing Square Signature Center through January 12.
HIV diagnoses among Black queer
men, they also suggest that time
marches on. The message couldn’t
be clearer — action must be taken
to blunt this hidden epidemic. And
the time is right now.
ONE IN TWO | The New Group |
MONIQUE CARBONI
Pershing Square Signature Center,
480 W. 42nd St. | Through Jan.
12: Sun., Tue.- Fri. & Dec. 23 & 30
at 7:30 p.m.; Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sat. &
Sun. at 2 p.m.; no performances
Dec. 24-25, 31 & Jan.1 | $43-$123
at thenewgroup.org | Ninety mins.,
with no intermission
DONATE YOUR CAR
Wheels For Wishes
benefiting
Make-A-Wish®
Metro New York
* 100% Tax Deductible
* Free Vehicle Pickup ANYWHERE
* We Accept Most Vehicles Running or Not
* We Also Accept Boats, Motorcycles & RVs
WheelsForWishes.org
* Car Donation Foundation d/b/a Wheels For Wishes. To learn more about our programs or
Call:(917)336-1254
ORDER NOW! 1.866.749.2741
THE FAVORITE GIFT
COMBO PRICE
$6999
+ 4 FREE BURGERS
GayCityNews.com | December 19, 2019 - January 1, 2020 29
/thenewgroup.org
/WheelsForWishes.org
/GayCityNews.com