The child has not yet arrived, a bundle of joy from some desperate part of Africa, but Annie and Peter have arrived at a name. When a friend points out that the child, who looks to be about age four in photos, will likely already come with a name, Annie bats the question aside. Emma Mercedes it will be, but thoughts of adopting an African child become heavier as concerns build for the emotional baggage that the future Emma Mercedes may be carrying from traumas unknown. "You want a child from Africa," says a sage neighbor from that continent, "but you do not want Africa."
This is at the crux of The Call, Tanya Barfield's thoughtful drama that Theatre Rhino is now presenting at the Eureka Theatre. Joy, worry, and sorrow are on a rotating playlist for Annie and Peter, but particularly for Annie, who has been treating the effects of futile fertility drugs with other drugs for depression. When a baby adoption from a still-pregnant woman in Arizona looks to be falling through, she suddenly pivots toward African orphans. She'd get a kid, do something good for humanity, and maybe, just a little bit, get to wear some imaginary medal of honor.
Barfield adds an intriguing dynamic to the story with a second couple, lesbian African-American newlyweds, who are among Annie and Peter's best friends and have become a sounding board for the adoption journey. The play starts with their comic story of an African vacation where they were startled to be considered white just like their fellow travelers, and then had a scary encounter with a lion on a safari-lite expedition. "Me, I'm happy with the Disney version of Africa," says Rebecca, who first got to know Peter when he and her late brother were Peace Corps-type volunteers in Africa.
Although Rebecca and her more politically charged partner Drea are culturally all-American, they do have an insight into the difficulties that both their friends and their incoming daughter will face. At first, their admonitions are lighthearted �" the challenges of styling African hair, for example �" before they become more forceful as Annie finds her commitment to the adoption falling apart. Not only will the African child come with the realities of Africa, but also possibly with memories of a mother that she'll always wish she knew better.
Director Jon Wai-keung Lowe's production brings us gradually into the drama. The first act is mostly in the low-key tones of conventional dramatic setups, and it ends with a scene that merely dissipates rather than signaling the end of an act. Intensities heighten in the second act as emotions grow rawer and unexpected revelations unfold. But the play adds one or two unnecessary unexpected revelations, creating confrontations that temporarily pull us into a different drama.
The cast is certainly an agreeable bunch, with Melissa Keith convincingly suggesting Annie's fragility if not transcending the character's mopey state that can become a little annoying. As Peter, Hawlan Ng has the least vibrant role as a husband just trying to keep his wife happy, but Ng finally gets to rev up the performance with some of those second-act revelations. As Rebecca and Drea, longtime partners though only recently wed, Nkechi Emeruwa and Alexaendrai Bond engagingly bring to life their finish-each-other's-sentence familiarity. But it is Darryl V. Jones, as Peter and Annie's African neighbor, who finally puts all the pieces together with a powerful tale from the early days of the AIDS epidemic when his efforts to provide medical help unknowingly made matters worse.
Through it all, the playwright provides balance but also ideas that many in the audience may not have considered before. When Drea points out there are plenty of black kids in America who need homes, Annie is just not interested in that conversation. With Annie out of earshot, Drea suggests a reason for this reluctance to her partner. "Slavery," says Drea. "It's the original sin for white folks."
The Call will run at Eureka Theatre through March 12. Tickets are $15-$35. Call (800) 838-3006 or go to therhino.org.