REVIEWS ...
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Laughter, tears -- and splendid acting
Fine actresses make the lessons of GableStage's opener enlightening, funny and moving.
By Christine Dolen
cdolen@herald.com
On the face of it, the two women could hardly be more different. One is a news reader in Zimbabwe, married and the adoring mother of a little boy. The other is a rebellious, streetwise teen in Los Angeles.
But as the saying goes, appearances can be deceiving. Because this African woman and this American girl, living half a world apart, are facing the same crisis: an unplanned pregnancy by an unfaithful man who also has made her HIV positive.
Written by actresses Nikkole Salter and Danai Gurira, In the Continuum links and intertwines the stories to underscore the worldwide HIV/AIDS crisis and its particular impact on African and African-American women.
Now, as the season opener at GableStage, In the Continuum is giving two other gifted performers the chance to make diverse audiences laugh -- and move them to tears.
Performed for both high school students and the company's regular audiences, the play showcases the impressive talents of Kameshia Duncan and Lela Elam, two of South Florida's best actresses. In part because of the way the roles are written, Elam soars to a new level in her wonderful body of work, and In the Continuum becomes her breakout production.
Simply staged by Joseph Adler against dual backdrops (set designer Tim Connelly uses mudcloth to represent Africa, tagging to suggest Los Angeles), the play shifts back and forth between the two worlds, with David Goodman's lighting and Matt Corey's music design (African and hip-hop and more) signaling the changes. Except at the beginning, the women don't interact, but the text and Adler's direction reinforce their connectedness -- a continuum of fear, dreams and devastation.
Duncan's major role is Abigail, the doting mother and news reader who learns she is both pregnant and HIV positive. This fierce actress brings vulnerability and intensity to the character. She also plays a harried nurse, a sophisticated AIDS activist, a maid, a prostitute and a witch doctor. Duncan differentiates each role, but the fact that all must use a similar Zimbabwean accent makes her task more difficult.
Elam chiefly plays Nia, a tough girl from the 'hood, a teen and baby mama-to-be. Her beloved is a star basketball player with NBA prospects, and yakking with her girlfriend, Nia dreams of a life filled with love and flashy wealth.
Her reality, however, is very different: rejected by her mother, fired for stealing, a rule breaker. Elam plays that cold mother, Nia's cross-dressing cousin, her chiding counselor, moving and speaking in an entirely different way for each character.
At the right moments, she has the audience howling with laughter. And then, in concert with Duncan, as sobering truth takes over, a moving Elam makes them cry. Thanks to that emotional depth, In the Continuum is a play with lessons that linger.
