About the Play:

The Call is a full-length drama by Tanya Barfield. A childless Caucasian couple in the process of adopting a baby from Africa, get some surprising news that threatens to tear their world apart when they get "the call" from the adoption agency. Not all lives and relationships are picture perfect, and The Call tackles the human ability to overcome obstacles while embracing an imperfect life.

The Call is about a white couple considering adopting an African baby. Annie and Peter are a white professional couple in New York City that struggles through infertility and in vitro fertilization in their frustrated efforts to conceive a child. After no success, the couple decides on international adoption and sets their sights on a baby from Africa, but not everyone is supportive of their international adoption. Rebecca and Drea are an African American couple who grapple with the idea of a white couple raising an African child. Matters get more complicated when Annie and Peter's African neighbour, Alemu, insists on guiding them through the adoption process. When "the call" finally comes from the adoption agency, uncomfortable truths about everybody's pasts get exposed, and the characters are forced to come to terms with new realities. Politically charged, funny and tack-sharp, The Call is a startling portrait of cultural divide, casting global issues into the heart of an American home.

The Call premiered in 2013 at Playwrights Horizons off Broadway in New York City and has since been staged at regional and college theatres throughout the US.

Cast: 3 women, 2 men

What people say:

"Thoughtful and engrossing. Written in smart, natural and often sparkling dialogue." — New York Times

"Touching and intelligent." — Huffington Post

"The Call tackles the complex issues that accompany adoption across cultures, tearing open the insulated middle-class home to the world's challenging realities…it is a worthwhile play that forces discussion on numerous topics that might not be touched on otherwise. And what's smarter—none of the debates have black and white conclusions, leaving the topics open to discussion and giving the audience a lot to think about. But one thing is clear: we are all a part of the same world, so the world's problems are our own. And while white Americans, African Americans, and Africans are all divided by cultural differences, here we all are, in the same small Manhattan apartment." — Show Business Weekly

About the Playwright:

Tanya Barfield is an American playwright and screenwriter best known for her plays The Call and Blue Door, which was nominated for a Pulitzer. A Julliard faculty member, her works have been presented both nationally and internationally. She also writes for television (HBO, FX, Showtime) and shares a Writers Guild of America Award for her work on season four of FX's The Americans.