Over the past four decades, Diversionary Theatre has produced dozens of plays about the horrific destruction that HIV and AIDS has wrought on the gay community.
“We Are Continuous,” a new one-act by Harrison David Rivers now in production at Diversionary, is not specifically an HIV/AIDS-themed play. But it is about the million tiny cuts, including an HIV diagnosis, that can drive a deep wedge between a gay Black son and his parents.
Although the setting is described in the program as “now & here,” the play has a timeless feel, like it could be taking place today or 20 years in the past. The play is also told exclusively through monologues to the audience. This makes it feel like a piece of living history, or as the play’s title suggests, continuous fragments of memories that have been frozen in time.
I find dialogue-driven plays more engaging than those that are mostly monologue. But what helps this piece is the subtle and knowing direction by Kian Kline-Chilton, the excellent performances by the three-member cast and the nice production design. Colby Freel’s lighting is gorgeous. Padra Crisafulli’s sound design and original music add dimension to the scenes. And Sabrina Soto’s costumes offer insight to the characters’ personalities.
The 80-minute play opens with an extended scene that says a lot with no words. Mother is grooving and singing along to a faith-based R&B song as she methodically sets the table for a family dinner in her elegant art- and book-filled home. Mother is a woman of faith who tells the audience that she loves her adult gay son unconditionally, but actions speak louder than words.
Like many religious Black parents of gay children, Mother loves her son but prefers not to know the intimate details of his life, and she sometimes makes off-hand comments that are cruel and insensitive. And when Son meets his future husband and gets engaged, Mother and her never-seen husband refuse to attend.
Marti Gobel leads the cast as Mother, crafting a character who is warm and wise mama bear, but also reserved and judgmental. Elliot Sagay plays the Son as almost childlike and sensitive. Son has made peace with his parents despite knowing the limitations of their acceptance, but that choice has gradually chipped away at his self-esteem. Eli Wood, as Son’s future Husband, is kind, understanding, affectionate and loyal, offering the bedrock foundation that Son needs in order to thrive.
There are more ups and downs these characters face that I’ll leave for the audience to discover, but there is a bookend scene at the end that offers hope for the future.
Rivers’ play is nontraditional, both in its direct-address style and the fact that more is left unsaid than said. At the performance I attended, a man behind me began weeping when Son learns that his father wants nothing to do with him. Even in its spareness, “We Are Continuous” can touch a nerve with scalpel-like precision.
‘We Are Continuous’
When: 7 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through March 9
Where: Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd., University Heights
Tickets: $11.50-$61.50
Phone: 619-220-0097
Online: diversionary.org
