Among the outcries for social reform directed at racial injustice,“Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea” puts to stage African-American culture and tells a new coming-of-age story. 

“Theatre is the art form most directly reflective of the nature of human experience, and we seek to engage with issues that help us all understand that journey more clearly,” Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, head of the theater department, wrote in an email.

“Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea” is written by Nathan Alan Davis and guest-directed by Tyrone Phillips, both BFA alumni of the University. The play ran from Thursday to Saturday last week in Studio Theatre in the Krannert Center and will be performed again this weekend and Oct. 11-14. Tickets are priced at $25 for general admission and $10 for University students.

The play is foremost a call to remembrance. Dontrell, an 18-year-old descendant of African slaves, experiences a vision-like dream in which he meets one of his forefathers. Moved by this experience, he then goes on a journey to find the watery grave of his ancestor who died in the Middle Passage.

The story intertwines slavery with modern instances of racial inequality and the Black Lives Matter movement. In just the first few moments of the play, the cast erupts into vignettes of black oppression. As the ensemble pantomimes the hurling and thrusting of chains, audio of Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech floats above them. Meanwhile, a young black man sprints across the stage, is shot and killed, rises, and the shooting repeats several more times.

In the director’s note of the program booklet, Phillips wrote of “cracks in the foundation of humanity,” the value of “black bodies,” and the power of persuasion through the art of storytelling.

Phillips graduated with a BFA in Acting with honors in 2012 at the University and is now Artistic Director of Chicago’s Definition Theatre Company.

“It’s in the sharing that we learn. It’s in the sharing that we heal. It’s in the sharing that we grow,” the director’s note concluded.

To unify the cast, Phillips spent a lot of time “talking to them as artists” and about the importance of their roles in society as advocates and activists, he said. In their bonding, they would share stories, laugh and cry together. Phillips recommended that the rest of the world should do the same.

Now a professional playwright in New York with several other literary works on the way, the author Nathan Alan Davis made time to be involved in the artistic process.

“We Skyped him into a rehearsal once and the cast asked him one-on-one questions,” Phillips said. Before then, they had already “talked a lot” to discuss the play.

Additionally, Davis came this weekend to see the performance and to meet with the cast. He also did a Q&A session with the students in THEA 199, a contemporary theatre class. In the class, they asked him questions about character choices, the quirks of being a writer and how he faces criticism.

“One of the hardest parts of it is having people make assumptions about you — your ability as a writer,” Davis said. “You’ve just got to cultivate enough self-confidence to put it out there.”

When asked about the themes of the play and the intention of his writing, he gave a very clear response.

“It’s up to the audience’s interpretation,” he said.

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