Don't Miss Gem of the Ocean! It's the first play in August Wilson's "American Century Cycle

August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean is playing Friday and Saturday nights at 8:30pm with afternoon matinees on Saturdays and Sundays until March 5th. Get your tickets at https://www.detroitreptheatre.com/.

Madelyn Porter as Aunt Ester and Jon Kent as Citizen Barlow on their way to "The City of Bones," in August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean, now playing at Detroit Repertory Theatre through March 5, 2023. Credit: Daniel Morency.

Citizen Barlow's mother named him thusly because the child was born after Freedom came. He lived in Alabama until the turn of the 20th Century when he walked north through Appalachia to Pittsburgh's Hill District because, as he recounts, 'the white people had gone crazy.'

Like nearly every other migrant landing in western Pennsylvania during the dawn of the modern age, Citizen Barlow went to work in the mills. When we meet him a short time later at the Detroit Repertory Theater, the young character finds himself embroiled in tragedy and wracked with the guilt of a man's life on his conscience. There is only one thing to do in the Hill District when one can no longer bear the burdens on his soul. He is advised by acquaintances to 'go see Aunt Ester, 1839 Wiley Avenue.' It is there the adventure begins.

August Wilson's play, Gem of the Ocean, is a brilliantly human tale of redemption and coming-of-age. The story is set in 1904 beginning the playwright's celebrated American Century Cycle, also called The Pittsburgh Cycle. Consisting of ten plays, with one set in each decade of the 20th Century, the Century Cycle has been so ubiquitously acclaimed that the New York Times Magazine calls August Wilson "The American Bard."

Directed by veteran theater professional John Sloan III, a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance, the Rep's production of Gem of the Ocean does justice to one of Wilson's most spiritual plays. Madelyn Porter delivers a tender and powerful performance as the playwright's iconic Aunt Ester. Porter has big shoes to fill. Throughout the Hill District, the neighborhood where most of the plays in the Cycle are set, Aunt Ester is a larger-than-life matriarch whose wisdom is renowned a near-century after we meet her in this play.

Conflicted protagonist Citizen Barlow is artfully portrayed by Jon Kent. A world away from roles he has played for Cartoon Network, Kent's Citizen Barlow is a complex and nuanced character. Kent is believable as a lost boy, a broken soul, a fool on an errand, a conscience facing his demons, a loyal friend and finally, a man in his prime picking up the mantle of purpose in his life.

Left: Domonique Byrd as Black Mary and Jon Kent as Citizen Barlow in Gem of the Ocean at Detroit Repertory Theatre through March 5th. Credit: Detroit Repertory Theater.

The Detroit Repertory Theater is currently performing Gem of the Ocean, with four showings every weekend, Friday evenings through Sunday afternoons. The Rep is the first professional theater company in Michigan to produce Gem of the Ocean. Leah Smith, the Rep's Executive Artistic Director says if all goes well the company may run the entire American Century Cycle, one play each season for the next nine years.

An opportunity to see the entirety of the American Century Cycle is a rare and culturally significant blessing. It would be fantastic news for all theater goers living in metropolitan Detroit; even more exciting for those of us living as close to The Rep as Highland Park! Should The Rep commit, it will be the first in Michigan to do so and huge news in art and theater circles. Companies completing the American Century Cycle were counted at 16 nationwide in 2020 according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

So Highland Parkers! Hop aboard an extraordinary adventure with August Wilson at the Detroit Repertory Theater; the address is 13103 Woodrow Wilson. No need to get on the highway, just take Glendale across the Lodge, turn right on the next block and you're there.

The Detroit Repertory Theater's MUST SEE production of Gem of the Ocean runs through March 5th 2023. Advance tickets are available online for $25 on the Detroit Repertory Theater website, https://www.detroitreptheatre.com/.

Related links:

https://www.augustwilsonsociety.org/century-cycle

https://riversofsteel.com/august-wilson-american-century-cycle/

https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/theater-dance/2020/01/21/Pittsburgh-August-Wilson-award-Black-Rep-St-Louis/stories/202001210059?cid=search