Baltimore’s newest theater company, The Oven, has made its debut at the Theatre Project with a short, intense original show called Gone.
A tightly knit ensemble of five young Towson University theater alums has spent almost a year and a half creating and honing this harrowing examination of the coercion or abduction of young people into prostitution.
A strong warning: This is highly upsetting subject matter. Though there’s no graphic violence, the stories are wrenching. The show runs less than an hour, but some will find it difficult to sit through.
That discomfort, of course, is appropriate for this look at the ruined lives of victims of human trafficking.
Gone was conceived and directed by The Oven’s founding director, Jackson Phippin, an educator and a former associate artistic director at Center Stage.
Phippin’s new company is grounded in political and social issues. Gone explores a disturbing issue through choral speech, movement and storytelling. The result is both sensitive and theatrically arresting.
Choral speech is used in various ways, including to reinforce the characters’ common experiences – both the horrors and the psychological need to distance themselves from the lives they’re leading.
Specific characters, however, are also distinctly drawn and portrayed; they are individuals with different backgrounds and personalities. In several cases, an actor sits on a chair on a small, round platform. Sometimes a recorded interview begins, then the seated actor takes over. Or an actor simply tells his or her character’s story.
Alex Shade plays a boy whose stepfather beat him for being gay, then molested him until he ran away and ended up in a life of enforced prostitution. Sadie Lockhart plays a girl who wanted to be a professional dancer. A friend told her about an audition; she was 13 and didn’t see her family again.
Clifford Doby plays the most tragic figure -- a boy who always knew he was really a woman named LaDawn. Misunderstood and bullied, LaDawn mistakenly and dangerously turned to “the kindness of strangers.”
In addition, the actors – who also include Chelsea Blackwell and Katharine Ariyan -- portray other, often scary, figures in their characters’ lives. At one point, they circle around LaDawn, clapping rhythmically and taunting her.
The artistry and ensemble work that characterize Gone keep the subject of sexual trafficking from descending into sensationalism. Instead, Gone issues a poignant cry for help.
The characters’ stories weave in and out of each other. Though most of the stories seem unconnected, there appears to be a link between two of the young women, both of whom started out as aspiring dancers. But that link is blurry.
Gone has clearly involved considerable research and subsequent paring away. A little more narrative, however, could enhance clarity. But in terms of expression, the piece’s troubling impact is undeniable.
In fact, more post-show discussions – including some with the cast and director -- would be an excellent idea. Right now, the only scheduled discussion follows Friday’s performance. It will feature representatives of Safe House of Hope and the Kennedy Krieger Institute.
I’ve saved the set till last. Designer Richard Montgomery has created a post-apocalyptic junk heap that features masses of detritus, including dirty, broken dolls and a floor covered with chalk body outlines. Every scrap is a strong visual metaphor for the destroyed lives so hauntingly depicted in Gone.
