Mosaic Theater's fantastical 'One in Two,' by Donja R. Love, hits home

Some actors are master chefs. They know just how much heat an occasion calls for.

Justin Weaks is one of those premier ingredient-mixers, as he demonstrates once again in "One in Two," Donja R. Love's existential public service announcement about living in a society that seems to view those with HIV less as people to be looked after than to be looked away from.

Along with two other excellent actors, Michael Kevin Darnall and Ryan Jamaal Swain, Weaks makes us believers in the AI universe that Love has constructed. The playwright's conceit is to portray living with the immunodeficiency virus as a facet of a satirical contest — as if a human's health could be trifled with, laughed off. The narrative schematics don't all cohere seamlessly, though; it's not always entirely clear in what world "One in Two" is taking place.

But in director Raymond O. Caldwell's amusing Mosaic Theater Company production at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, the 2019 play's sequential episodes give us a robust impression of how much one's HIV status can define one's life — at a time when the world's rapt attention has long since shifted away from AIDS.

On a sterile white platform designed by Nadir Bey, the trio of actors emerge from closets to choose numbers from one of those dispensers that determine order of service in a bakery or deli. (For reasons never explained, theatergoers are encouraged to pull tickets, too, from dispensers near their seats; maybe the point is that we’re all potential players in this game.) Designating themselves 1, 2 and 3, Darnall, Weaks and Swain commence a round robin of role-playing, with Darnall (at my performance, anyway) taking on the through-story character of Donté, who has just learned of his HIV-positive status.

What comes across most powerfully in the sketches that make up the 90 minutes of "One in Two" is Love's emphatic demand that audiences perceive HIV as more than a recitation of government statistics. As the play unfolds, the digital display on an overhead screen slowly, and then with more acceleration, posts a rising tally. (As with those tickets in those dispensers, the numbers on the screen are never elucidated.) But they don't have to be. (In Atlas's lobby, Mosaic displays a portion of the National AIDS Memorial Quilt.)

Weaks, who was an outstanding Belize and Mr. Lies in Arena Stage's recent "Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches," is a galvanizing presence here, whether he's playing Donté's warmly embracing mother or a gender-fluid member of Donté's HIV support group. Darnall, a fine Louis in Arena's "Angels," and Swain, who played Damon on FX's "Pose," offer up bracingly emotional turns as well.

In putting aside the dramaturgical rule book, Love is making a statement about the nation's humanitarian priorities. By setting his characters in a fantastical space, he is letting us know that the need for more attention to HIV is real.

One in Two, by Donja R. Love. Directed by Raymond O. Caldwell. Set, Nadir Bey; lighting, John D. Alexander; projections, Deja Collins; costumes, Brandee Mathies; sound, Cresent Haynes. About 90 minutes. Through June 25 at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. mosaictheater.org.