By Dan Collins
In the Everyman Theater program for their latest production, "The Soul Collector," playwright David Emerson Toney explains, "I write adult fables about the difficulties of being fully human. Mainly focusing on the familial relationship." Family is most definitely at the core of this play, about an African-American uncle and nephew who have a tendency to bring their work home with them...not unusual, except for the fact that the two are garbagemen.
Darnell (DeMargio House) and his uncle, Cedric (Jefferson A. Russell) both harbor big dreams, and dreams are also central to the play's theme. Cedric wants to open a gourmet chicken-wing restaurant while Darnell wants to be a hit Motown recording artist. They plan to finance their aspirations by selling the choice items they encounter on their route.
Darnell claims to "get a tingle" when he knows an article - be it a grandfather clock that tells the wrong time or an "ancient Chinese vase made in Japan" - has a special worth. The result is a set a la "Sanford and Son" with a dash of TGIFridays given all the incongruous items on the walls and shelves.
But what gives Darnell this "tingle"? Could these items have a value that Cedric and Darnell fail to perceive?
What begins as a situational comedy about two loveable oddballs and their kind but nosy landlord neighbors - Mr. and Mrs. Coleman (Doug Brown and Aakhu TuahNera Freeman) - soon develops into a ghost story...or spirit story, Mrs. Coleman might correct, as "ghosts know they're dead-spirits don't!"
Two spirits, to be precise--Mimi, a 10-year-old Japanese girl circa 1945, and Sol, an old, borscht-beltish talent agent who thinks he's in 1950s Vegas waiting "for Frank to call" - each residing in the same vessel, a young woman and fellow tenant named Claire.
Claire, and the two spirits, are portrayed by actress Erika Rose who received a well-deserved standing ovation at play's curtain. Rose is a young African-American actress who had the audience truly believing she was both Sol and Mimi, from her spot-on Jewish accent and stoddering old-man step, to the shy, demur body language of a shy, but bright child, she made both characters come alive-a nifty trick, given that both are supposedly dead!
If Darnell and Cedric's home is a safe haven for spirits, it begs the question-haven from what? Enter Wisher (Craig Wallace), a tenant "from below" with a thing for Girl Scout cookies and all things sweet...like spirits and dreams. Wallace is extremely well cast as an impresario-slash-cookie salesman-slash-demon whose courtly demeanor and toothy smile remind us that Satan is always a gentleman.
Director Jennifer L. Nelson elicits top-drawer performances from her cast who clearly had fun with Mr. Toney's material, such as Sol's line, "It's no fun getting old, I'm peeing in Morse code, all dot, dot, dash, dot dot, dash!" Brown's Mr. Coleman was a particular crowd pleaser in the play's final act when he has the opportunity to live his own dream of joining the Cartwrights on BONANZA's Ponderosa.
Kudos to set and prop designers Daniel Ettinger and Liza Davies for evidently scouring junk shops o'er the land for just the right mix of Montgomery Wards-meets-hip-kitsch.
THE SOUL COLLECTOR is billed as a comedy, but it is also a drama about the friends we call family, the sacrifices we make for our kin, the guilt we may carry and the dreams that can set us free.
THE SOUL COLLECTOR continues its run at the Everyman Theatre, 1727 N. Charles Street, now through June 21st, Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 and 7 p.m. For tickets, call 410-752-2208 or visit www.everymantheatre.org.
