{"id":812996,"date":"2026-05-21T20:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/812996\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T20:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:38:19","slug":"in-the-continuum-remains-a-compelling-drama-about-black-women-and-hiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/812996\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Continuum remains a compelling drama about Black women and HIV"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2005, Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter cowrote and costarred in a two-hander play, In the Continuum, an off-Broadway hit that later toured in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the U.S., including a 2007 run at the Goodman Theatre<\/a>. Gurira, a Zimbabwean American writer and actress now known for her role as General Okoye of Wakanda in the Marvel franchise, played Abigail, a newscaster, wife, and mother from Harare, Zimbabwe. American actress and playwright Salter appeared as Nia, a teenager born and raised in Salter\u2019s own hometown, Los Angeles. Despite the significant differences between these two characters, Abigail and Nia share a sobering commonality: Both are diagnosed with HIV during the early stages of pregnancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the Continuum<\/strong>
Through 6\/14: Thu\u2013Sat 7 PM, Sun 2:30 PM; Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen, pegasustheatrechicago.org<\/a>, $35 ($25 seniors, $15 students 21 and under)<\/p>\n

Pegasus Theatre Chicago reintroduces Gurira and Salter\u2019s Obie Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama to Chicago audiences with a solid revival, directed by ILesa Duncan and starring Georgerinna Farley as Abigail and Niara Taylor as Nia. Each actress also plays multiple other roles, swapping Marquecia Jordan\u2019s costumes from onstage coat racks while Abboye Lawrence\u2019s vintage-looking projections indicate shifts in setting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the mid-2000s, when the play is set, people living with HIV often had better health outcomes and longer life expectancies than earlier patients, due to the development of highly active antiretroviral therapy. However, Abigail and Nia still fear the social stigma, economic precarity, and potentially dangerous domestic situations that may follow the announcement of their diagnoses. Adding to their pain, they both realize that their male partners gave them the virus but are unlikely to shoulder equally heavy consequences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Duncan nimbly handles the play\u2019s unconventional structure, which is mostly made up of overlapping scenes set in Harare and LA. Though Farley and Taylor often share the stage, the spoken dialogue is always one-sided, with Abigail and Nia talking to unseen family members, friends, and colleagues. In other scenes, the actresses play supporting characters while Abigail and Nia become the implied scene partners. In lesser hands, this format could feel disjointed, but Farley and Taylor bring enough energy and humor to this colorful cast to hold the show together. Although a few elements come across as dated, the play\u2019s through line connecting the experiences of African and African American women remains compelling.<\/p>\n

Reader Recommends: THEATER & DANCE<\/p>\n

Reader reviews of Chicago theater, dance, comedy, and performance arts.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tMay 19, 2026May 20, 2026\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2005, Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter cowrote and costarred in a two-hander play, In the Continuum, an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":812997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,302602,5386,168051,1818,330256,4289,330257,330258,77591],"class_list":["post-812996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-danai-gurira","tag-il","tag-ilesa-duncan","tag-illinois","tag-in-the-continuum","tag-listings","tag-nikkole-salter","tag-pegasus-theatre-chicago","tag-reader-recommended"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116614498195009766","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}