Review: LOST BOY FOUND IN WHOLE FOODS Serves Up a Whole Lot of Food for Thought

It is like stepping into Africa. The floor is mounded with sand...only it isn't sand: it is tiny pieces of cork. The backdrop pieces are sketched with the geographical lines of the continent and overlaid with an immense stark tree. The tree could be the baobab tree, also known as the "tree of life." Blue light streams through the breaks in the backdrop. Everything else is in earth tones of browns and tans. Sitting in the midst of this representation of Africa are a tan sofa and a table that converts to a desk. At the front is a stack of crates, serving as workspace for a young Sudanese man who is slicing up a papaya at Whole Foods. This is Gabriel. This is our lost boy.

From the moment we enter the beautiful set designed by Steven L Williams at Omaha Community Playhouse, we are drawn into the human drama unfolding before us. Gabriel, engagingly played by high school junior Justice Jamal Jones, warms us with his smile. "When God made Sudan," Gabriel says, "He cried. And he laughed. I try to always make someone smile, even if it is myself." We can't help being attracted to this handsome young man with the relentlessly positive outlook. Christine (Julie Fitzgerald Ryan) is inspired to befriend Gabriel.

Christine invites Gabriel to dinner, and he shows up...a week late. Time is an American concept; not one he subscribes to. She then invites him to move in with her and her adolescent daughter Alex. Christine's husband has left her. Alex, who has had no say in the matter, protests. No one ever thinks she is 'enough.' There is no man in the house, which Gabriel's belligerent friend Panther (Anthony Holmes) often points out. It is later when we realize why this is such an issue for Panther...why it makes him so angry.

Christine seeks advice from Michael Dolan (Mark Kocsis), a former worker for Catholic Charities. He has become disillusioned. He tells Christine that charity work is not about others so much as it is about our selves. We do it because it makes us feel good. If Christine truly wants to help, she must use her Catholic faith as a verb, and not as an adjective or a noun. Christine tells Michael she thinks she is "faux Catholic." How much is she expected to give? When is it enough?

When Michael tells Christine that "lost boy" is a romanticized term; they are really motherless children, she sets out to find Gabriel's mother with the help of Segel Mohammed (Rusheaa' Smith-Turner). She wants to do this one thing, to help this one person. By doing so, she will be also teaching Alex to give.

There are many interesting images and metaphors tossed around. Gabriel describes the sunset as the sun cutting the earth like a papaya. Alex equates girls to herd animals: they need to push someone outside in order to be a herd, and she is that person being pushed out. Scars across Panther's forehead reveal how courageous he is: if the lines are straight, he is strong; if crooked, he flinched during the cutting of his skin.

Alex patiently helps Gabriel write his essay on Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener." Bartleby serves as a metaphor for Gabriel's life. Bartleby is employed to copy documents, which he initially does enthusiastically. He gradually stops working, saying "I would prefer not to" and dies when he prefers not to eat.

Words are not wasted in this tight script written by Tammy Ryan. It is only in a scene between Christine and Segel that it turns slightly didactic. Segel accuses Christine of being a white privileged woman, and that her efforts to help are not enough. The script on the whole is a tremendous work and it is acted out impressively.

Lara Marsh does a fine job directing this strong cast in an intricate study of our human response to a horrific crime against a people. Justice Jamal Jones brilliantly evokes the spirit of young Gabriel, sliding from sunny optimism to bleak pessimism as he finds himself standing with one foot in both countries. He wrestles with the idea of fitting back into his homeland where cattle are given as bridal dowry and at the same time adjusting to life in this new country where black men are sent to live in white suburbs where it is more affordable and less accepting. He can do little else but work, although he would prefer not to.

Julie Fitzgerald Ryan digs deep for emotional responses to dealing with divorce, parenting an unhappy teen, and desiring to make a difference in the world. She is unyielding, even though she can break.

Anthony Holmes is dark and menacing, but gives us a glimpse into a softer soul.

Victoria Luther is convincing as a smart teenager who struggles with her own issues, yet has compassion for others.

Mark Kocsis is lighthearted fun with his random fatherly outbursts to his boys, yet reveals deep roots of hope in the face of disillusionment.

Rushee' Smith-Turner is authentic, magnetic, and manipulative.

Because Omaha Community Playhouse has partnered with Lutheran Family Services in presenting this play, it has become more than entertainment. We, like Christine, can use Gabriel's and Panther's stories as an impetus to make a difference, if even for only one person. We can see charity as a verb rather than a noun. We could prefer not to, or we could find a lost boy who is looking for wholeness.

Photo credit: Colin Conces

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