Depicting a slice of life: Nikkole Salter in In the Continuum

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Danai Gurira in the Market Theatre's In the Continuum

Taking the tragedies of Aids to the stage Fresh from New York, In the Continuum follows the paths of two very different women, each burdened with the knowledge that their partners have infected them with HIV. It was rated one of the top three plays on Broadway last year by The New Yorker magazine. May 17, 2006 By Ndaba Dlamini TWO black women, one in an African country and the other thousands of miles away in the United States, share their experiences of the devastating problem of Aids in a gripping play showing at the Laager Theatre, In the Continuum. Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter, the play's authors and actresses, play HIV-positive women, Abigail Murambe and Nia respectively. Abigail is a newsreader for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and she is pregnant with her second child. Nia, on the other hand, is a teenage African-American girl with relationship problems. The two actresses play dozens of other roles and engage the audience with their stories of parallel denials and self-discoveries. Both women are constantly fighting against domineering men and their portrayal of socially oppressed black women is impressive. The play takes place over two days in which the women discover that the men in their lives have infected them with the deadly HI virus. The script is brilliant and takes the audience through the women's grim predicaments and defeated aspirations. Each travels a personal journey, encountering various characters and cultural bias, as they try to come to terms with their diagnosis and ensuing social isolation. The two writers say the play was born out of a "profound concern for the experience of black women in the present fight against HIV/Aids". "Black women currently represent the highest rate of new infections both in the US and Africa, and this story is told from that perspective. Developed during our third year of New York University's graduate acting programme, with an invaluable artistic community of students and teachers, it is a representation of the humanity behind the statistics and an invitation for more unheard stories to be brought In(to) the Continuum." Gurira was born in the USA to Zimbabwean parents and was raised in Zimbabwe. She has performed in plays like The Story, Forbidden City, God Brothers and King Baabu. Jointly with Salter, she was awarded the Laura Pels Acting Award and the Global Tolerance Award from Friends of the UN for In the Continuum. A graduate of Howard University's College of Fine Arts and New York University's graduate acting programme, Salter has performed plays like The Story, Stop Kiss, Jitney and King Hedley, among others. She was awarded the Howard University Hilltop Scholar and the New York University Graduate Acting Fellow. Directed by Robert O'Hara, In the Continuum had a successful run in Harare, Zimbabwe and at the Baxter Sanlam Studio in Cape Town earlier this year. The play premiered in September 2005 at Primary Stages in New York City, and was named one of the Best Plays of 2005 and was rated one of the top three plays on Broadway by The New Yorker magazine. Co-producer, Martin Platt, says bringing the play to South Africa was the fulfilment of a dream of the authors and the production team. "It is especially meaningful for me as a co-producer, as I have a long professional relationship with both Mannie Manim at the Baxter and Malcolm Purkey at the Market Theatre and we hope that the play will have as huge an impact on South African audiences as it has had in New York." Acted with gusto and feeling, this play tells of the tragedy of Aids in a refreshingly different form which will appeal to the audience. In the Continuum is on until 4 June at the Laager Theatre, in the Market Theatre complex, from Tuesday to Saturday at 8.15pm and on Sunday at 3.15pm. For more information contact the Market Theatre publicity department on 011 832 1641. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za