BWW Reviews: THE CALL Asks Big Questions at Theater J

"We didn't ask to solve the world's problems. We asked for a baby."

Annie just wants a baby but she cannot get pregnant with her husband Peter. Like many couples, they weigh the adoption option and set their sights on a baby from Africa. Sounds simple, right?

Not exactly.

Tanya Barfield's THE CALL has come to the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street in a production that gives full value to the huge questions posed by the play. THE CALL does not give easy answers and that is just fine with me. But it sure makes you think.

Inspired by Barfield's own experience with international adoption, THE CALL is not a documentary by any means. This is a very human story, with one eye on the personal and one eye looking beyond to the big picture, a hallmark of brilliant theatre if there ever was one. Director Shirley Serotsky's precise direction enhances the global scope while remaining focused on Annie and Peter's bumpy road to parenthood.

Let's talk about that bumpy road, shall we? And why pull punches - since Barfield's script certainly doesn't? THE CALL is about race. Not the Travon Martin/Freddie Gray type of racism. The racial divide in THE CALL comes from people of color whose lives are connected to Annie and Peter. A friendly conversation about the theoretical child's hair turns in making sure the child will not have "nappy, I got white-parents-hair syndrome." How will Peter and Annie deal with the situation when their child asks if their skin color washes off? These are their friends, asking such questions, not heartless strangers.

Before long, the global issues inherent in international adoption from Africa also creep in, changing the equation so drastically, parenthood may not be the only dream at stake. As third world problems clash with first world values, other secrets are revealed that could change the balance of the lives at stake.

Throughout the play, the personal conflicts and the larger issues are handled with humor balanced with care, no mean feat. The cast is uniformly excellent at finding the balance between the lighter moments when friends sip wine and talk about the old days and the moments when tension fills the air with a weighty air.

Tessa Klein, as Annie, makes the portrait of a 40-something artist who feels the sting of middle age and the deeper sting of not being able to get pregnant. As her husband Peter, Jonathan Feuer easily expresses the loving spouse who also has a personal stake in the relationship. Klein and Feuer have a ready chemistry that is makes Annie and Peter's relationship all the more believable through their understated performances that find the edginess as the play progresses.

Annie's best friend, Rebecca, is played with ebullience by Joy Jones. As her new spouse Drea, Kelly Renee Armstrong also makes a strong impression. Rebecca is one of Annie's oldest friends and her brother was Peter's college chum. These relationships are not just old times of which they reminisce, they are old friendships that are tested. Drea is new to the mix, having recently married Rebecca, and this makes for some fraught moments. The fact that Rebecca and Drea are also black and the ones who bring up many of the questions that plague Annie and Peter is not a small matter.

Alemu, played by Bru Ajueyitsi, is the fifth character but no less important. Alemu lives in the same apartment building and a chance conversation with Rebecca leads him to Annie where the questions seem to get even more difficult. "You want a child from Africa, but you do not want Africa," Alemu declares to Annie. She is silent.

The large Atlas space is used to best advantage with a three-quarter seating designed by Tim Jones and lit by designer Garth Dolan.

It is so trite to say that a play is thought-provoking, especially for a company such as Theater J since such plays that ask big questions is one of their calling cards. But THE CALL does ask some doozies. Most of the questions do not have easy answers, but that is the power of great theatre. It can ask questions and then send the audience off to think about them and continue the debate.

~ Follow me @jeffwalker66

Theater J presents

THE CALL - By Tanya Barfield - Directed by Shirley Serotsky

Featuring Tessa Klein, Bru Ajueyitsi, Joy Jones, Kelly Renee Armstrong and Jonathan Feuer

At Atlas Performing Arts Center

MAY 6 - 31, 2015

Running time: 105 minutes including intermission

Tickets start at $25 and are available online HERE

For more information about Theater J and THE CALL click HERE

PHOTO CREDIT: Stan Barouh/Theater J; Illustration: Gregory Ferrand

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