Seton Hill University Theatre will present the Pittsburgh-area premiere of “Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea,” a 2014 play by Nathan Alan Davis that explores what ancestry means to people of color, specifically those whose African ancestors were taken into slavery.
Curtain times will be 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the university’s Performing Arts Center at 100 Harrison Ave., Greensburg.
The play tells the story of 18-year-old Dontrell Jones who, responding to a vision, decides that it is his duty and destiny to search the Atlantic Ocean for an ancestor lost during the Middle Passage.
“Dontrell’s connection is made through bodies of water because that is where his ancestor calls him from,” said assistant director and dramaturg Devon Young.
His family, however, is not ready to abandon their beloved son to his heroic quest.
Mixing poetry, humor, wordplay and ritual, “Dontrell” also draws on traditions and spiritual beliefs of the Yoruba people, whose homeland is present-day Nigeria.
According to Concord Theatricals, the play delves into “the lengths and depths we must go to redeem history’s wrongs.”
All but one of the cast members are people of color, according to director NaTasha Thompson, a 2021 master of fine arts graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in directing.
Thompson’s research identifies intersections of Afro-Surrealism and Afro-Futurism in the Black theater canon.
“(The production) is part of an ongoing determination to be more diverse, to celebrate artists of color and their work. This is just a start for that,” said Denise Pullen, Seton Hill Theatre and Dance Department chair. “The whole point is to have the students do something that is part of their culture and also their lived experience.”
Cast members are Channing Griffin of Munhall; Alexandra Hellinger of Allison Park; Diante Jackson of Greensburg; Ryan Deshyla Jordan of Liberty Township, Ohio; Stacey Fils of Boardman, Ohio; and Saffron White and Todd Griffin, both of Pittsburgh.
Guest artistic staff includes choreographer Chrisala M. Brown and percussionist Dante Mitchell.
Brown has been choreographing, teaching and performing in Pittsburgh for more than 20 years. Her formal training began in Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and Dance Alloy. She has a dance performance degree from Temple University.
An accomplished West African percussionist, Mitchell has studied and performed West African culture for more than 25 years. He is co-founder of The Ibeyi West African Drum and Dance Company and a member of Kuumba Inc., a Monroeville-based education and performing arts consulting company.
“Dontrell” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French Inc.
Tickets are $15, $5 for Seton Hill students with valid ID and $13 with other student ID, and are available by calling 724-552-2929 or online at setonhill.edu/tickets. Students from any school can purchase rush tickets five minutes before curtain, subject to availability.
Hours at the Performing Arts Center box office are 2-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and three hours before a performance.
