On the wall, a digital clock ticks constantly upward, no doubt registering the escalating diagnoses among this population (in 2018, there were 9,712 new diagnoses in this community, or 26 percent of the national total).Д«ut on this day, one of these three nameless men decides to break the routine. Three Black gay men take a number and wait their turn to re-enact for the audience their life-and-death battle with HIV/AIDS. Reminiscent of Jean-Paul SartreвЂ™s existential drama вЂњNo Exit,вЂќ about three characters trapped for eternity in a purgatorial waiting room, вЂњOne in TwoвЂќ also takes place in a sterile white-walled waiting room designed by Victoria Petrovich. That self-referential nod is just one of many fascinating aspects of this funny, interesting and unusual play. Love himself identifies as an HIV-positive, Afro-queer man, and the central character in his 80-minute play is his alter-ego, an HIV-positive gay Black male playwright whoвЂ™s planning to write a script about his experience. That compares to one in four among Latino gay and bisexual men and one in 11 gay or bisexual White men, according to 2018 figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. LoveвЂ™s вЂњOne in Two,вЂќ which opened DiversionaryвЂ™s 2021-22 season on Saturday, is named for the shocking statistic that one in two gay or bisexual Black men in America will be diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in their lifetime. Just as the COVID pandemic will no doubt inspire playwrights in future years, the AIDS epidemic has been a major inspiration for many plays produced over the past 35 years at Diversionary Theatre, the third-oldest LGBTQ theater in America.Д«ut thereвЂ™s one story about the HIV/AIDS epidemic that hasnвЂ™t been told at the University Heights theater until now.

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