The Call
I knew little about the plot of The Call (directed by Leigh Silverman); I knew it had to do with
adoption, but that’s about it. And boiled down for simplicity, that’s an
accurate description of the overarching plot, but in reality it’s much
richer.
Annie and Peter (Kerry Butler (Catch Me if You Can, The BestMan) and Kelly AuCoin) are a white couple living in an unspecified
metropolitan area. They are intelligent and sufficiently successful in their
respective careers. After having trouble getting pregnant and then going
through more than one miscarriage, they decide to adopt. Their friends, Rebecca
(Eisa Davis) and Drea (Crystal A. Dickinson (Clybourne Park)), a black lesbian couple, are thrilled. And when
Annie and Peter decide they are going to adopt an African baby, Rebecca, who is
already fantasizing about styling the child’s hair, spills the beans to Annie
and Peter’s new neighbor, an African man named Alemu (Russell G. Jones), much
to the chagrin of Annie.
And that’s the crux of the piece: letting (or not letting)
the public into your extremely personal decision. Deciding whether or not you
want children in the first place is a private matter. Struggling to conceive is
private. Deciding to adopt—and what age child you want and from where—is
private. These decisions are rife with complicated emotions.
For example, at one point, Annie says that she wants to be
the child’s only mother. She bristles at the thought of her child being able to
picture someone else as “mommy.” The process of adopting makes everyone in the
play (and everyone in attendance) think about the difference between parenting
an adopted child and a biological one. It makes you think about the moral
implications of different kinds of adoption. Is it selfish to want to adopt an
infant, as Annie and Peter do, rather than a toddler or child?
Inarguably, these are entirely personal and private
decisions. Yet, in The Call, Barfield
explores the way the public can creep into your decision making process. When
Annie questions whether or not she’s willing to adopt a child that is older
than she and Peter had “asked” for, Alemu starts telling her about the
conditions in Africa – what it’s like on the ground.
I became enraged at this. You can’t guilt someone into
making such a huge, life-altering choice. As Annie says, “We weren’t asking to
solve the world’s problems. We were asking to have a baby.” But maybe there’s
no way to keep the outside voices of the madding crowd from seeping in. Is that
right, though? How much can you consider everyone else’s feelings when making a
personal and intimate decision?
I struggled with these questions throughout the play, and I
continue to struggle with them now, days later, as I reflect on the
well-crafted play. Barfield is, I learned in a post-show discussion, an
adoptive parent of two, and her experience no doubt colored this bracing new
play. (It's telling to note that when asked about her personal adoption experience, Barfield chose to keep the details private.) Bravo to Barfield for sensitively exploring subject matter that is still—even with the way we over-share on social networking sites—taboo.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit
playwrightshorizons.com.
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