An uncanny dream about an ancestor is the catalyst for a life-changing journey in “Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea,” a play by Rockford native Nathan Alan Davis. ILesa Duncan, fresh off directing an excellent revival of “Native Son” at Lifeline Theatre, directs this production at Pegasus Theatre Chicago, where she is the executive and producing artistic director.
With elements of magical realism, Davis’ play examines the legacy of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, ancestral connections that span generations, and tensions between familial obligations and individual destiny. Some of the themes and language remind me of Micah Ariel Watson’s “Alaiyo,” which premiered at Definition Theatre last year; in both plays, young African Americans seek to uncover their lost history.
Dontrell Jones III (Blake Dupree), a Black teenager from Baltimore, is an ace student with a promising future ahead at Johns Hopkins University, where he is due to start classes as a freshman in a few weeks. But one night, he dreams about an African man crossing the Middle Passage in the “womblike darkness of a slave ship.” In richly detailed language, Dontrell describes the man sharing a tender tryst with an enslaved woman, then throwing himself overboard. The man looks just like Dontrell’s father, and Dontrell is convinced he can trace his lineage to the child conceived on that dreadful ship.
What’s more, Dontrell feels that he has a duty to travel into the Atlantic Ocean to find his lost ancestor, an ambition that sounds worryingly familiar to his parents (David Goodloe and Maya Abram). His grandfather, the first Dontrell Jones, had similar “hallucinations” — as his father calls them — and was committed to a mental asylum after attempting to go to sea in a stolen boat. He later drowned himself in a bathtub. The family’s history with water is a dark one, to say the least.
Undeterred, Dontrell tries to teach himself to swim at a local pool and is saved from drowning by a 21-year-old lifeguard named Erika (Emma Wineman). The two have instant romantic chemistry, and she supports his plan to find his ancestor. But back home in the Jones household, tensions boil over at Dontrell’s graduation party, a small family gathering with his parents, sister Danielle (Aundria TraNay), cousin Shea (Aja Singletary), best friend Robby (Zay Williams) and Erika. His mother panics after finding the scuba gear Dontrell has acquired for his nautical mission, and parents and son exchange sharp words before Dontrell goes ahead with the voyage anyway.
Intergenerational relationships are complex and fraught throughout this play. In addition to dreaming of his distant ancestor, Dontrell connects with his late grandfather when he finds a handwritten testimony from his time in the asylum. Dontrell also addresses future generations in an audio journal that he calls a “captain’s log,” recording for posterity his dream and the journey it inspires. But he risks isolating himself from his immediate family by attempting to reach into both the past and the future.
The play begins with a surreal tone as a chorus of ancestors prepares Dontrell for his mission and the rhythms of a djembe (sound design by Chris Kriz) usher him back into the waking world. As he describes his dream, projections by Eme Ospina-Lopez depict a diagram of a slave ship through a watery blue filter. However, the momentum driving Dontrell’s singular vision lags for much of the play. He speaks of his voyage as “my contribution to civilization” and feels the need to leave a record for future generations, but the play could better explore Dontrell’s motivation and what, precisely, he hopes to gain by venturing into the Atlantic — especially when this creates such conflict with his living family members.
I also would like to see the play delve a bit more into the dynamics of Dontrell’s relationship with Erika, who is white. Although Dontrell receives some support from Shea, who obtains the scuba gear from her job at an aquarium, Erika is the one who finds a boat and rows into the ocean with him. Aside from Dontrell flirtatiously calling her a Viking, to which she responds that she has a little Norwegian heritage on both sides, there’s little exploration of what this interracial relationship means for the two of them. Erika’s admitted belief in spirits makes her a likely match for Dontrell’s visionary bent, but her motivations are hazy as she gets into a tiny boat with her new boyfriend.
Still, the play’s vivid language and evocation of the past leave a strong impression. Especially worthy of mention: Dontrell’s father gives an impassioned tribute to his wife and all of the “warrior women” who are on the front lines protecting young men such as Dontrell. It’s the show’s best monologue and powerfully delivered by Goodloe, making Davis’ words shine.
Emily McClanathan is a freelance critic.
Review: “Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea” (2.5 stars)
When: Through Aug. 18
Where: Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen St.
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Tickets: $15-$30 at pegasustheatrechicago.org
