"Activism masquerading as art."

When Malcolm Kenyatta was a child, his mother used to give him his vitamins with a spoonful of applesauce. That way, the young Kenyatta would be distracted by the sweetness and not notice he was being fed a pill.

The stage play You Gotta Eat Dirt Before You Die is unapologetically applesauce - a mixture of entertainment with heavy themes.

The play, which premieres Dec. 4 at the Adrienne Theater, is written by Temple University professor and poet Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon. Set in the 1980s, the story follows Jefferson, an African American business professional in Philadelphia whose partner Nick is dying from AIDS while his mother is diagnosed with an aggressive form of kidney cancer. The production is very personal to Williams-Witherspoon because it's loosely based on family experiences.

When her mother was diagnosed with cancer, Williams-Witherspoon was hurt when her brother wasn't present due to taking care of a sick "roommate" who was really his boyfriend. After her mother passed, she wrote the play as a catharsis.

"It hurt me because it was hurting my mother," said Williams-Witherspoon, 55. "I needed to understand his point of view."

She locked the play away, but it wasn't until her brother also fell ill, 20 years later, that old feelings stirred and she dusted off the script. Initially she wanted former student and activist Malcolm Kenyatta to play her brother, but after Kenyatta and his partner, actor Terrell Green, read the script they were overcome with awe and asked Williams-Witherspoon if they could direct the play.

"I've never seen a play like this is in my life and I've been doing theater since I was 6," said Green, 24.

The two launched an Indiegogo online fund-raising campaign and raised more than $2,000. With three-hour rehearsals five times a week while working full time on other advocacy projects, Kenyatta, 24, says "it's been a labor of love."

"And we still make it home for dinner," said Green.

The two have been together for a year, though their families struggled to accept their relationship.

"Love doesn't give up and Jefferson doesn't give up," said Green.

As someone in a gay and interracial relationship in the '80s, Jefferson struggles with coming to terms with the disease ravaging his boyfriend in a society that condemns their relationship. Despite it being more than 30 years after the play is set, Kenyatta says there is still much progress to be made.

According to AIDSFundPhilly.org, 30,000 people in the area are living with HIV and Philadelphians are infected at a rate five times the national average.

"You can't run away from these topics and what is happening in our city," said Kenyatta. " I've gotten to a place where I am not comfortable being a bystander."

Green says the conversations about HIV/AIDS are happening, but not in the areas where the infection rate is the highest. He added that most dialogue often only focuses on preventive measures rather than tackling postexposure.

As they've been directing the play, both men have seen similarities between themselves and the characters. They think audiences will do the same.

Green, like Jefferson, comes from a very religious family in which homosexuality isn't embraced. For Green, some of the dialogue hit close to home.

"There was a time that we were in two different points of our lives, myself and my family," said Green. "There were some lines the family were saying and I thought, 'That's verbatim!' "

The production tackles family values, race, religion, and coming out, and how they intertwine. But Seamus Millar, stage manager for the production, says it has a universal appeal regardless of your lived experience.

"There is a core there that is about identity and being comfortable in your own skin," said Millar.

Kenyatta agrees, and says he hopes "people are going to leave this production with tools, with information and a desire to want to do something."

Kenyatta says he wants to create a "one-stop shop" for activism. Audience members will be encouraged to take an HIV test at the free on-site testing stations.

Both Green and Kenyatta hope the play works as a conversation starter and creates more activists to fight infection rates, increase postexposure assistance, reduce stigma, and change the way people are educated about HIV/AIDS.

"Change comes from finding that intersection between the arts and activism," said Kenyatta. "It really is activism masquerading as art."

And thanks to the applesauce, "they leave with all the information we want them to get," said Kenyatta.

There will be panels at Temple University's Paley Library starting on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, that focus on themes discussed in the play, but the production is still the centerpiece.

"At the time when I wrote it, if you were diagnosed with HIV, you were dead within two years; I hope the stories of all those people who died are honored," said Williams-Witherspoon. "Young people recognize the change, but they don't know the struggle."

The play's name - You Gotta Eat Dirt Before You Die - is representative of the siblings' emotional climb and growth throughout the piece.

"You had to start from the bottom and work your way up," Williams-Witherspoon said. "The dirt is the death, the funeral, and the source of life."

You Gotta Eat Dirt Before You Die

Presented Dec. 4-7 at the Adrienne Theater, 2030 Sansom St.

Tickets: $15; $13 for students. Via www.eventbrite.com

Information: eatdirtplay@gmail.com

Panel discussion of the play at 10 a.m. Monday at Temple University's Paley Library, 1210 Polett Walk. Free.EndText