Review: Arena Players’ ”Gem of the Ocean” Kicks off Baltimore’s August Wilson Celebration
It's a fitting beginning for a long journey.
"This is a peaceful house."
Those words begin Gem of the Ocean, chronologically the first play in August Wilson's Century Cycle. Though the penultimate play written, Gem takes place in 1904 and kicks off a century's worth of Black stories told through the decades of the 20th Century in Pittsburgh's Hill District. The entire ten-play cycle (Fences and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the only one not set in Pittsburgh, among them) is one of the American theatrical canon's greatest achievements, composed by the medium's most acclaimed poet.
They are the words that have kicked off Baltimore's August Wilson Celebration. This collaboration between the city's theatres, big and small, professional and community, has them banded together to present Wilson's Cycle in chronological order over the next three theatrical seasons. It's a first-of-its-kind team effort and it's happening in a city with more in common with Wilson's Pittsburgh than perhaps we'd like to admit. In association with Wilson's widow Constanza Romero, five theatres have plays scheduled for upcoming seasons, while another five will join them to complete the cycle.
"This is a peaceful house."
This house, the first of the Celebration, is Arena Players. Arena is the oldest continuously operating African American community theatre in the country. As a result, there's perhaps no better place to begin this theatrical endeavor than a building with a rich history of telling authentic Black stories in a Black city, one that has seen the history of Wilson's Pittsburgh happen around its own Baltimore front door. They've performed several of Wilson's works before, but their 70 years of theatre-making have extended far past his plays while tackling the same issues, themes, and histories in a variety of works.
"This is a peaceful house."
Thus begins Gem of the Ocean. The house is 1839 Wylie Avenue, the home of Aunt Ester (a feisty Sharon Carter Brown), who claims to be 285 years old, an octogenarian a few times over (simple arithmetic shows that her birth year falls on 1619, the year slaves were first brought to this country. When Wilson writes Gem of the Ocean in 2003, he isn't just taking us back, he's taking us all the way back.) She's joined by her caregiver Eli (at our performance, an instinctual Mo Stewart - he feels like a true protector) and housekeeper Black Mary (a resolute Nikki Scroggins, who performed at our matinee). Eli reminds all visitors that her home is a sanctuary and when we see those that do pass through, we can understand his hesitation.
The first visitor is Citizen Barlow (a natural Isaiah Evans - whom I hope to see many more times in the future), a young man declaring that he needs to see Aunt Ester right away as he needs his soul washed. That's what she does, what she's good at. But she's not available until Tuesday, so after a few days of standing around, he breaks into her home in the middle of the night. He's done something terrible and needs her guidance immediately. Luckily for Citizen, he reminds her of her youngest child and she can't help but look past his breaking-and-entering to help the boy.
She promises him a trip on the Gem of the Ocean. It's a boat that symbolizes the slave ships that brought her to this country, the symbol of slavery that Eli and houseguest Solly Two Kings (an excellently rhythmic William A. Walker) escaped from on the Underground Railroad. To achieve forgiveness, he must reverse this journey, spiritually in her living room, taking a paper boat to the City of Bones - a magical place that conjures in Aunt Ester's living room. You don't believe you can actually go there, but you believe that Citizen believes he's there. Anyone who has felt the need to go down to their own City of Bones may find comfort in his cleansing voyage.
It's a play about love and forgiveness. Unfortunately, some things just can't be forgiven.
Black Mary's brother Caesar (a raucous Antonie Williams at select performances) is a local lawman, hell-bent on justice and, for him, that sometimes means revenge. He's the play's villain, the man who must be warned that this is a peaceful house, and he's Wilson's percussion - a driving beat of intensity and pulse. He talks and talks and talks, showing that even Wilson's bad guys get their say. And Williams relishes getting to say all of those words.
The play's imbalance is caused by Caesar's commitment to the white man's law, doing as he's told to enforce it and instituting punishment for the breaking of it. However, the punishment never seems to fit the crime, as the people of the town sometimes end up dead over trivial offenses like stealing a bucket of nails. They, and we, can't agree with his tactics. Ester and her houseguests use the scripture, not legislation, as their guiding light and it often contradicts Caesar's perspective. Just because it's the law doesn't mean it's right, and we side with Ester's home. "I ain't never known you to be on the wrong side of anything," says visitor Rutherford Selig (a pleasant Richard Peck) to Ester.
Arena's artistic director Donald Owens directs the production, squeezing more than just set designer Alex Lopez's kitchen setpiece on the stage. Yes, there's the Gem of the Ocean and the City of Bones, but Wilson's play is not about how much stuff Arena's cramped stage can hold, it's about the ideas a theatre, an audience, can hold. Owens delivers his director's note live before the show starts and explains that they are presenting Wilson's work as the history play that it is. Yes, it takes place in 1904, but it's a story that spans from 1619 to today. "Most of it you know," he offers in his preface, "but you don't want to accept it." For the well-dressed audience at my Sunday matinee performance, it all seems like an extension of their morning's obligations.
A spiritual experience acted out by a hard-working ensemble, Gem of the Ocean is an essential piece of American theatre. At Arena Players, it's mandatory viewing and an excellent kick-off to Baltimore's August Wilson Celebration.
Gem of the Ocean plays Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm, Sunday at 4:00pm through April 28, 2024, at Arena Players Inc., 801 McCulloh Street, Baltimore, MD. To purchase tickets, go online or call 410-728-6500.