American Players Theatre presents Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea — Do You Find Yourself Moving Forward in the Past?

Allie Bugasjski, Allie and the After Party

TLDR: A young man of 18, Dontrell has his future laid out ahead of him going to a good school and making his family proud with his achievements. But when it feels like his past and ancestors are calling out to him from a dream, he is propelled to answer the call in Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea.

The Past is Calling

They gather.

They find the collective heartbeat.

Their footsteps in lockstep to create a rhythm.

They walk across the stage towards Dontrell one right after the other.

They provide their offering on his journey, their lines spoken like lines from a poem.

The lights change from dim blues and purples to a spotlight on the young man.

“Captain’s log…” he starts and describes his dream into a handheld tape recorder. This is Dontrell -The Third, to be more specific - played by Derrick Moore. He’s 18 and about to leave for college at the end of the summer. But something has been plaguing him, haunting him, calling to him through his dreams. He’s seen his ancestors in his dreams and feels like there is something they need, something he needs to discover or find the answer about.

Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea takes us on a journey of a young man searching for a piece of himself that was lost decades ago in his family’s history.

Surrounded By The Present

In the middle of these scenes where his past is calling to him, we see him in real life chasing what these dreams and his purpose might be. He sets out in Baltimore to discover why the sea is calling to him, tape recorder in hand to log his messages along the way. He’s surrounded by family (biological and chosen) who try to help him and protect him when they know his head is somewhere else.

Dee Dee Batteast wears a John Hopkins t-shirt as she exasperatedly tells Dontrell to please just make it through the summer and get to college, but still points him in the right direction she knows he needs to go.

Jamie Herb as Erika, saves his life as the lifeguard on duty at the pool, but allows him space to dream as she herself shows vulnerability.

And Jazzma Pryor as his cousin, Shea, delivers the final piece to push him towards what he needs to do as she sees deeper than just what’s on the surface to the naked eye.

Moore feels the pull of staying put and keeping on the path laid out in front of him against the tug of his past calling to him. He must decide whether he should ignore that calling or set out to finish what previous generations couldn’t.

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