Playwright Harrison David Rivers writes little lyrical details that shine like jewels. In “We Are Continuous,” his latest script produced by New Conservatory Theatre Center, Rivers sows devastation in the way a father never asks about his son’s lover but instead spends their whole first meeting talking about the weather, ordering food to-go. Rivers shows how tough a mother is in the way she never carries baby pictures and matter-of-factly describes that trait as a point of pride.
And in the show, which is directed by ShawnJ West, Rivers writes a meet-cute that’s novelistic in specificity yet cinematic in flow. “When can I see you again?” says Husband (Walter Zarnowitz). “How about now?” says Son (Devin Cunningham).
Son’s conservative, religious parents didn’t imagine their child being with a man. In “We Are Continuous,” Rivers charts with imagination, grace and hope the disconnect between the life parents can fathom and the life their son forges.