Now that theater companies are producing again in a fairly normal manner after time off during the COVID-19 pandemic, the local spring season is a robust one. Many quality plays and LGBTQ-themed and -friendly works are on tap in Atlanta theaters.
A decade after playwright Donja R. Love found out about his HIV diagnosis, he decided to write about it. His “one in two” opens at Out Front Theatre Company soon, directed by J.L. Reed.
According to Reed, “one in two” is Love’s exploration of coming to terms with the diagnosis, figuring out life within and beyond living with HIV/AIDS. The play opens with three Black men — referred to as Person on the Right, Person on the Left and Person in the Middle — on stage in a waiting room of sorts, where one will get a positive diagnosis.
“Donja leaves it up to the creators to determine exactly what this all-white room is,” Reed said. “He just describes it as pristine and sterile.”
Reed, who is gay, loves the experimental nature of the show, where the audience gets to choose who plays two of the three characters.
“It’s meta-theatrical, and there are some fun and engaging devices that are equal parts hilarious, painful, touching and poignant,” he said. “It’s a bit of a roller coaster. It’s a wonderfully challenging piece to bring to life. My aesthetic as an artist and director, in general, is that I like theater that plays with the rules and structure and isn’t a traditional, linear piece. It’s nice to break away from that sometime.”
Although HIV/AIDS is no longer regarded as a death sentence, it still brings with it all kinds of issues. Hence, “one in two” is still a relevant piece.
“One of the things we talk about is [that] we have medication now and have advanced so much in this realm to where people are living with HIV as opposed to dying of AIDS,” Reed said. “What we know, though, is that the stigma is still very real and painful and devastating and that a lot of this play is…
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