Review: “one in two” Confronts What Stories We Tell About HIV, and How We Tell Them

In “The Inheritance,” the current talk of the town gay play that claims to deal with the legacy of the AIDS crisis, all of the major characters are not only white, but are HIV-. There are two minor Black characters, one of whom is HIV+, but his status is only mentioned once briefly, and the other Black character similarly only has one quick mention of HIV to say “if you’re a Black gay man in America, your chances of contracting HIV in your lifetime are one in two.” Once again, the line is quickly said and quickly forgotten. Other than a quick mention in an over-crowded scene, “The Inheritance” has no interest in talking about the intersections of race, sexuality, and HIV.

Thankfully, Donja R. Love does want to talk about that staggering statistic, which forms the title of his new work, “one in two,” now playing at the Pershing Square Signature Center via The New Group, directed by Stevie Walker-Webb. Love has a vested interest in exploring this theme, since he himself is a Black, gay, HIV+ man, but he also is passionate about these types of stories being told. As he writes in his program note, “it’s not just my story, but the story of a community — a community that’s in a hidden state of emergency.”

As the audience filters in, three Black actors silently sit shirtless in a…