We're all on an adventure declares Aunt Ester, keeper of a Safe House for fugitive slaves. The adventure in this chapter of August Wilson's epic play cycle centers on water -- the Pittsburgh reservoir in which an accused thief drowns, the mighty Mississippi up which Negroes flee in secret (even though it is now 31 years after the Emancipation Proclamation), and the vast Atlantic, in whose stygian depths lie the souls of the captives who died crossing -- or committed suicide upon landing. The question of whether it is more desirable to acquiesce to the inevitable or to fight to the death is answered by the irresolute Citizen Barlow only after he has taken a dream journey (conjured in the quotidian parlor by lighting and sound effects, Wilson's evocative prose and the haunting voices of his guides).
Running at nearly three hours, the text of Gem of the Ocean is almost certain to be winnowed down (especially some of the repeated phrases) before it arrives in New York, although pacing it any faster would diminish the weightiness that renders its final triumph so exhilarating. In the meantime, Greta Oglesby elevates whatever environment she occupies, with Paul Butler and Anthony Chisholm likewise radiating dignity, and Kenny Leon, Yvette Ganier and Peter Jay Fernandez endowing their youthfully impetuous roles with redeeming gravity.
