‘Home’ Is Where the Heart Is

One of the most remarkable things about Samm-Art Williams’ “Home” is that it isn’t done more often--especially these days, when so many theaters are desperate to reach dramatic highs on low budgets.

This deceptively simple three-actor play about an African American farmer is all about people rather than production values. And in the finest tradition of theater, “Home” (nominated for a Tony award in 1980) lifts the spirit while it makes you laugh and cry.

The San Diego Black Ensemble is to be commended for presenting it with abounding passion and grace. The heart of “Home” is Cephus Miles (Stefan Donae Umstead), a young farmer growing up in rural North Carolina in the late 1950s. While the farming life is never easy, Cephus finds it deeply rewarding; he feels God in each growing shoot.

He has great hope for the future--until trouble starts a relentless downpour: An orphan, Cephus loses the grandfather and uncle who care for him; his true love, Pattie Mae (Janet Mescus), leaves him; and he is drafted to go to Vietnam and spends five years in jail for refusing. The final blow: While in jail, he loses his beloved farm to back taxes.

This story is told (without intermission) by three actors (Mescus plays Pattie Mae and other characters; Anaiis Salles plays everyone else). Each shines. Umstead, who makes great eye contact with the audience, carries the show with earnestness, winning humor and honest howls of pain.

Mescus, graceful as a dancer, is alternately girlish, giggly and graceful as Pattie Mae, but as cool and hard in the other roles as she needs to be. The versatile Salles delivers the sass as the sexy temptress waiting downtown, and in other roles as well.

This fine ensemble establishes a world of feeling, weaving tales of love, humor, heartache and pain, taking us from the country to the big, bad city and back, from hope to despair to redemption.

Director Rhys Green, who also designed the sets, has guided the performers simply but eloquently on what clearly was a tight budget. The barefoot actresses wear black leotards and pale yellow skirts. Umstead dons farmer’s overalls and work boots; two fence posts hold the only accessories that account for costume changes: a muffler and hat here, a scarf there.

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But “Home” doesn’t need more. It gleams like a jewel in the simple setting of the Ensemble Arts Theatre’s 45-person space in the Union Art building in Golden Hill, in the shadow of downtown.

The power of the production derives from its kinship to tales as deeply embedded in the human heart as the Odyssey. One senses the spirit of the Greek Antaeus, who needed to touch his Mother Earth to renew his strength. There even is a “Forrest Gump” quality to Cephus’ story: It offers a prism through which to view three decades in America, from Jim Crow to integration to Vietnam, a war costly to everyone, those who went and those who didn’t.

Indeed, it’s a wonder that “Home” hasn’t been adapted to the screen. It is hard to imagine this tale failing to touch anyone.

* “Home,” the Art Union building, 2323 Broadway, Golden Hill, San Diego. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends June 16. $5-$10. (619) 696-9508. Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes. No intermission.

Janet Mescus: Woman One, Pattie Mae Wells

Anaiis Salles: Woman Two

Stefan Donae Umstead: Cephus Miles

A San Diego Black Ensemble production of a play by Samm-Art Williams, directed by Rhys Green. Lights: Don Loper. Sets: Green.