ARTS . Theater

Positive Thinking


	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Oct 11, 2006

Let's face it, many people would rather avoid theater that wants to be "a force for positive social change." Don't be put off by Simpatico Theatre Company's lofty ambitions, however; they've become accomplished in the tricky feat of producing socially conscious theater that's also enjoyable, navigating that treacherous territory between clubbing us with messages and charming us with stories.

Patient A could easily do the former: Lee Blessing's 1993 memoir of AIDS victim Kimberly Bergalis includes the off-putting device of the playwright as a self-doubting character, wrestling with questions about how to present her story as the 80-minute play unfolds. Fortunately, the prolific Blessing reveals Bergalis' story with sensitivity and insight — even though his stage persona borders on self-indulgence, annoying Kim (and us) with his recitation of Andrew Marvel's "The Nymph Complaining for the Death of Her Fawn," an allusion to Bergalis' "innocence" (as a virgin, not gay or a drug user as most early AIDS victims were labeled).

Bergalis inspired a media circus when the Centers for Disease Control confirmed that a dentist infected her (and five other patients) with HIV despite following their guidelines, and she battled the bureaucracy for legislation requiring HIV testing for health workers. Blessing, with deceptive skill, allows Kim to shine not only by prevailing against society's ignorance and cowardice, but also through his own character's awkward efforts to highlight poetic shadings and ironic insights in a story that needs no finesse.

Becca Landis brings strength and clarity to this challenging character, reliving the terror and humiliation of the CDC's efforts to pigeonhole Bergalis in a high-risk group, the media's willingness to exploit her story for ratings, and crackpots offering cures for a share of her insurance settlement. We see this fragile, lovely young woman grow in strength as her body withers.

James Needham Brown gradually convinces as Blessing, though his poetry recitation lacks insight and passion, and Michael Cosenza masters the difficult challenge of playing an actor humorously reluctant to recite Blessing's statistics and impersonate Kim's mother, but who also plays a bitter gay AIDS victim, ignored while society focuses on the "undeserving" Kim.

Director Angela S. Zuck moves the actors like chess pieces on Jacob Walton's multileveled, vague, yet spacious (for the tiny Shubin Theatre) set, which features an underused arch backlit to suggest an otherworldly place. What succeeds admirably is the cast's rapport with each other and the audience in an unsettling, engrossing play.

Patient A

Through Oct. 29,Simpatico Theatre Project,Shubin Theatre, 407 Bainbridge St., 215-423-0254, www.simpaticotheatre.org