'Gem of the Ocean': A Hateful Legacy's Reach

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WITH THEMES focusing on the Middle Passage and the aftershock of slavery on the African-American psyche, August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean" is certainly fully loaded.

Set in the Hill District of 1904 Pittsburgh, "Gem of the Ocean" looks at a community whose residents migrated North in an effort to flee the Jim Crow South.

Citizen Barlow (Jimonn Cole) is a new, rural migrant to the industrial city in search of his piece of freedom in a divided, post-Civil War society. He finds work at a local mill. When told that he actually owed his boss money for working, Barlow steals a bucket of nails.

An innocent man is accused of the crime and chooses to drown rather than "live a lie." Horrified by what his petty theft has wrought, Barlow seeks redemption from 285-year-old Aunt Esther (Lynnie Godfrey) who’s known for her ability to cleanse souls.

As he makes his way to the "City of Bones," where his soul-searching journey climaxes, Citizen learns from his elders — including Solly, an Underground Railroad leader and former slave played by Joseph Marcel (from "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air") — that even minus the physical restraints of slavery, freedom remains elusive.

Barlow emerges from his trip no longer the lost youth looking to his elders to make sense of the world. He picks up Solly's stick, a symbol of freedom, and walks off stage cementing his readiness to take over the struggle for the next generation.

» Arena Stage, 1101 6th St. SW; through March 18, $51-$66; 202-488-3300. (Waterfront-SEU)

Photo by Scott Suchman