The Sea Beyond the Ocean by Douglas Robinson, the theater for young audiences production currently playing at The Kennedy Center, is a winner. Full stop.
And it is pointedly a story for our times, no matter what your age is.
First, it’s a visual delight. Seeing the stage is like stepping into an expensive, illustrated edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. The show is smoothly choreographed (Ryan Sellers, movement specialist) with lighting (Alberto Segarra) that alternates between shadows and sepia tones, giving the proceedings an aura of mystery and memory. The costumes (Cidney Forkpah) are multilayered and appropriate for swashbuckling, befitting a show that moves from 21st-century America to pirate fantasy with precision.
Hefty swords (Adam Hawley, props) look and sound like they could believably slash wood and pig’s flesh. The ships’ sails maintain a single profile facing the audience, while, from time to time, narrow platforms emerge from the wings to provide planks for the captains of the two ships to meet and confront each other (Shartoya R. Jn Baptiste, set design).
Then, there’s the story.
Nine-year-old Scooter’s dad (James J. Johnson) is sick. Scooter (Ty’Ree Hope Davis) has a set of pirate books that were his father’s favorite when he was a boy. During his illness, father and son read these books together. When they get to the end of the series, Scooter discovers that the author never finished the story. So, on a quintessentially dark and stormy night, Scooter tracks down the books’ author, Poppy Carousel (Deidra LaWan Starnes), with the intention of getting her to write an ending to the story. He is determined to keep their ritual going so that he can maintain his connection with his dad. But Poppy doesn’t want to finish the story. And besides, Scooter wants something specific: it has to have a happy ending. But as Poppy points out: “Not everything has a happy ending.”
The ships, the planks, the swords, and the characters are all in Poppy’s attic where Scooter discovers them. Scooter’s journey to find out if he can write the stories he needs to read is the heart of the play.
This is a theater-for-young-audiences piece. And both playwright Douglas Robinson and director KenYatta Rogers respect this young audience. Before the curtain rises, Scooter spends time exploring the theater and making connections with the other kids his age, letting them know that they are peers. When he steps onto the stage to begin his theatrical adventure, the young audience is with him in spirit. And they remain with him as he shows, by example, how they can access their courage and creativity, and how it can sometimes be scary to do so.
The play also does an interesting thing. It reminds the adults in the room that they were once 9 years old. And that they still possess the same resourcefulness and creativity to imagine the world they want to live in — the world as it should be — and the courage to bring it to life, without shying away from writing the journeys they must take to get there.
The show repairs, restores, and reawakens hope in its older viewers. For younger viewers, it provides a blessed assurance to trust their minds, capabilities, and resilience.
The actors — Jordan Leah Embrack, Jeremy Keith Hunter, James J. Johnson, and Jasmine Joy round out the cast — are all tried-and-true DC theater professionals who bring their A-game to this endeavor. Director KenYatta Rogers made sure that everyone on stage was telling the same story with the same level of commitment and that the production and design crew produced magic.
My favorite moment of magic was when Adhara (Embrack), a previously unnamed and unrealized character from Poppy’s books, goes through a transformation that brings her into the fullness of her being. Alberto Segarra’s lighting, combined with Sidney Forkpah’s costume design, result in a dazzling transformation of Adhara into her full power. The way Adhara’s dress lights up, the way the stars rain down from the sky above her and envelop her (a little bit like a dove descending from on high): these are images of fulfillment and transcendence.
Beginning with its enigmatic title, playwright Douglas Robinson constructs a world of loss, hope, and resilience. That world is fully realized by this company of dedicated and competent artists.
The Sea Beyond the Ocean is haunting, inspiring, and precious. And it’s worth a trip to the Kennedy Center just to have Adhara remind us: “You can’t just write the stories we want. You have to write the journeys we need.”
Running Time: Approximately 70 minutes without intermission.
The Sea Beyond the Ocean plays through March 15, 2026, presented by Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences in the Family Theater at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St NW, Washington, DC. Purchase tickets by calling the box office at (202) 467-4600 or online. Tickets are also available at TodayTix.
Best enjoyed by ages 9+.
The Sea Beyond the Ocean by Douglas Robinson
CAST
Scooter: Ty’Ree Hope Davis
Adhara: Jordan Leah Embrack
Mot/Doctor: Jeremy Keith Hunter
Homer/Dad: James J. Johnson
Dianna/Mom: Jasmine Joy
Poppy Carousel: Deidra LaWan Starnes
Understudies: Terrence Griffin (Scooter), Dominic Gladden (Homer/Dad, Mot/Doctor), Pauline Lamb (Poppy Carousel, Dianna/Mom), Mecca Verdell (Adhara)
CREATIVE TEAM
Playwright: Doug Robinson
Director: KenYatta Rogers
Assistant Directors: Layali Aljirafi & Lenox Kamara
Dramaturg: Gabrielle Hoyt
Sound Designer/Composer: Nick “tha 1da” Hernandez
Set Designer: Shartoya R. Jn Baptiste
Assistant Set Designer: Margarita Syrocheva
Costume Designer: Cidney Forkpah
Assistant Costume Designer: Rukiya Henry-Fields
Lighting Designer: Alberto Segarra
Assistant Lighting Designer: Julian Cordova
Props Designer: Adam Hawley
Movement Specialist: Ryan Sellers
Casting Director: Deidra LaWan Starnes
Production Stage Manager: Becky Reed
Assistant Stage Manager: Jazzy Davis
Production Assistant: Hansin Arvind
