‘Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea’ is haunted by an ancestral legacy

Lindsay Christians, The Cap Times

Someone is calling Dontrell from the depths of the ocean.

Earnest, nerdy Dontrell — who keeps an audio diary for “future generations” and starts each entry with “Captain’s log” like he’s on the Starship Enterprise — is headed to college in the fall.

Lately he’s distant and distracted, climbing out of his bedroom window and skipping family meals. He’s been having vivid dreams of his ancestors, visions of the Middle Passage — the forced voyage of enslaved people from Africa to North America.

“Even if I don’t know why I have to do certain things, I can’t not do them,” Dontrell says. “This is something I’m supposed to do.”

Nathan Alan Davis’ poetic 2015 play “Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea” is haunted by an ancestral legacy. In American Players Theatre’s production, directed by Tyrone Phillips in the Touchstone Theatre through Sept. 25, stage magic invites viewers into the dream.

Derrick Moore (lovesick Orlando in this season’s “As You Like It”) plays 18-year-old Dontrell with a wide-open face and a puppyish energy. Moore makes Dontrell gangly and awkward. He’s enthusiastic, naïve and so, so young. This kid jumps into a pool despite not knowing how to swim, leading to a budding romance with the lifeguard (Jamie Herb) who revives him.

Dee Dee Batteast plays Dontrell’s mother, Sophia, with a voice so authoritative it could stop a child in his tracks from two houses over. Exasperated and deeply anxious about her boy, Batteast can command attention and break your heart in a breath.

“I’d give your body away before I kill your spirit,” she says. “But I want both to stick around for a while.”

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