What I liked
Rahvaunia is a magnificent actor who seamlessly transitioned between multiple characters on stage using changes in her voice, posture, affect, and body language. Her use of projected images, especially character names, helped with setting each character’s stage. The slideshow of statistics, news articles, and images drew me in as an audience member who grew up seeing those images as a child and not understanding or comprehending at the time.
What I didn't like
Although I enjoyed the projected images regarding the early history of HIV/AIDS, I would’ve liked to have more current statistics or a comparison showing that the numbers of BIPOC women acquiring HIV continues to rise. I think our challenge is not the fear and stigma of the 80s/90s but the complacency of younger generations because they’re so far removed from those decades. I would’ve really liked to see all of her characters be more current and struggling through having to deal with fears and stigma of regular testing, PEP and PrEP, or HIV treatment.
My overall impression
Rahvaunia’s one-person show, “tHis Is Very important,” focused on a necessary and poignant topic for women, in particular, women of color – HIV/AIDS. She portrayed three different characters as well as the narrator to bring three unique women’s stories of HIV/AIDS to the stage.
