Review: ‘Gem of the Ocean’

—Photo by Jason Taglianetti

REVIEW BY JOHN BERGER / jberger@staradvertiser.com

Engaging performances by two talented actors provide a solid foundation for The Actors Group’s production of August Wilson’s slice-of-African-American-life drama, “Gem Of The Ocean.” The play, set in Pittsburgh in 1904, is the first chronologically in Wilson’s 10-play epic, “The Pittsburgh Cycle,” an examination of the experiences of African-Americans throughout the 20th century. Some of Wilson’s characters here were born into slavery. Other are only one generation removed from it. One character confronts another with the bill of sale documenting her transfer as the property of one slave owner to another.

William Ammons (Solly Two Kings), one of the dominant players in TAG’s 2010 production of “The Piano Lesson,” returns in a similar role playing a footloose good-timin’ ex-slave who derives at least part of his living by collecting and selling “dog (expletive deleted).” Ammons develops the character along many of the same lines that made his portrayal of sharp-witted piano player Wining Boy an audience favorite a year ago — but this time the story arc gives him even more to work with.

Curtis Duncan (Caesar Wilks) returns to TAG as the designated villain — an ex-con who found redemption in prison and turned his life around so successfully that he is now a feared member of the establishment. Wilks has overcome the twin obstacles of race and class to become a property owner with the legal authority to carry gun and use it.

“Money ain’t got nobody’s name on it,” Wilks tells another character. It’s there for anyone — black or white — who has the self-discipline to acquire it.

Duncan jump-starts the action the first time he appears on stage and makes Wilks a dominant presence in each subsequent appearance. Although Wilks is clearly the designated villain, much of what he says makes sense — in 2011 as well as 1904 — even when Duncan neatly illuminates the chinks in his uncompromising self-righteousness.

Director Russell Motter deploys a squad of convincing performances around Duncan and Ammons. There’s Wendy Pearson as Black Mary, Wilks’ estranged sister, who chooses to work as a domestic rather than be his partner in business; veteran actor Gregory Harris as Eli, former Union Army scout and a member of the “Underground Railroad” before that; Neal Milner as Rutherford Selig, a white peddler whose wares include rocks for a wall Eli is building; Deborah Pearson as Aunt Ester Tyler, a 285-year-old “washer of souls” whose home is a self-defined sanctuary; Myles McGee as Citizen Barlow, a young man recently come up from rural Alabama who arrives at Aunt Ester’s home at 1839 Wylie Avenue in desperate need of her services.

As with “The Piano Lesson,” some of the most vivid moments are passages that flesh out the characters — Solly Two Kings describing his footloose life, Eli recalling life in the pre-Civil War south, and Wilks discussing how he became a self-made man even though the odds and the white power structure were against him.

Although the story is driven by the unrest at a nearby mill where blacks are paid 25% less than whites, the energy level doesn’t drop during a scene where Barlow crudely invites Black Mary to “visit” him. She turns the sexual invitation around into a learning opportunity for Barlow that remains relevant today.

McGee’s acting skills also fuel the scene where Aunt Ester becomes Barlow’s “guide” on a trip to “wash his soul” in the City of Bones. The “trip” is apparently spiritual — playwright Wilson apparently did not intend the audience to interpret it as a physical experience — but McGee’s performance leaves no doubt that Barlow is experiencing everything Aunt Ester is describing.

History students will appreciate the subtleties in the story. For instance, If Aunt Ester was 285 in 1904 she would have been born in 1619 — the year the first African slaves were unloaded in British North America. And, 1839 was the year African slaves took control of the slave-carrying ship “La Amistad” and eventually won their freedom.

‘Gem of the Ocean’

Presented by TAG

» Where: The Actors Group Theatre, 650 Iwilei Rd.
» When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 13
» Cost: $20 general admission (discounts available); all tickets $10 for Thursday performances
» Info: 722-6941 or www.taghawaii.net