ISSUES: SHOW EXAMINES TOPICS THROUGH POETRY, MUSIC, CHARACTER; [METRO Edition] Tim Clodfelter JOURNAL REPORTER. Winston - Salem Journal. Winston-Salem, N.C.: Aug 6, 2005. pg. 10 Copyright Media General, Inc. Aug 6, 2005 NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL Malcolm-Jamal Warner is best known for his acting work in such situation comedies as The Cosby Show, Malcolm & Eddie and Listen Up. But he is also an accomplished poet and musician. At the 2003 National Black Theatre Festival, he first presented the world premiere of a show called Love & Other Social Issues. In it, he pulled together various poems and performance pieces he had been trying out in workshops over the years. For this year's festival, Warner has revised and updated Love & Other Social Issues. The production, which runs about 90 minutes, is a vibrant mix of poetry, music and character studies. It covers a broad variety of topics, broken down into three sections. The first, "Thoughts & Images," deals with such subjects as inner- city life and self-esteem, including Warner's consternation over people who embrace destructive self-images instead of positive role models. The second, "Women," deals with matters of the heart and includes poems about romance, sex and love. The last segment, "Being Me," includes poems examining emotions, change and drug culture. Warner is a charismatic wordsmith, mixing humorous commentary with more somber observations about life, death and religion, and the production remains personal and insightful without becoming self- indulgent. His readings elicited plenty of applause, laughter and sounds of agreement from the audience during yesterday's afternoon performance. Those who are most familiar with him as a Cosby kid should know that he does use salty language during the show, though not excessively - he knows the boundary between momentarily jolting the audience and going for pure shock value. Warner's funk-jazz band, Miles Long, provides musical accompaniment and occasionally participates in the performances of his poems, as well. Love and Other Social Issues will be performed at 3 and 8 p.m. today at the Arts Council Theatre. Tickets are $40. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. People: Warner, Malcolm-Jamal Column Name: Theater Review Section: B Tim Clodfelter - The Winston-Salem Journal (Aug 6, 2005)