Pear Theatre presents powerful plays

‘Path Back to Me’s’ 2 one-acts address race and young womanhood

While the experiences depicted in their one-woman shows are vastly different, both plays in “The Path Back to Me,” Pear Theatre Company’s current online presentation, are meant to send a message to pandemic-fatigued audiences that recovery from feelings of grief and loss is possible. The two one-acts, presented in collaboration with

Perspective Theatre Company, are available digitally through Sunday. Both productions are thoughtfully conceived and performed, but it’s “Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey” that will stick to your consciousness long after Debra Ann Byrd’s two-hour one-act play has ended. Byrd is a powerful dynamo of a woman, especially impressive because she was once homeless and practically raised herself. A classically trained actress and producer, Byrd certainly deserves her place as the founding artistic director of the Harlem Shakespeare Festival and as the recipient of a slew of other theatrical awards. Byrd directed the other one-act, “Full-Fathom Five,” where Annamarie MacLeod deals with the same concerns as most young women — her first period, her first sex, her first child — and combines it with a healthy dose of neurotic humor.

“Five” deals with postpartum depression, leading to MacLeod’s confession that she once decided she couldn’t handle the responsibilities of motherhood and tried to climb up on a railing and jump off. But she couldn’t climb the railing because she hadn’t lost her baby fat. Tickets are $30 to $37 at thepear.org/season-19.