PASADENA, Calif. – Drying dishes is a timeless task, and in a way Gem of the Ocean is a timeless play, even though it’s set in 1904. 

“Beautiful. Strong. Defiant.” That's how actor Carolyn Ratteray describes the women in the turn of the century photographs that line the dressing room walls. "It’s like who are these women? Who are these lives?”

RELATED | Theatricum Botanicum Rooted in Family, Bonds, Hollywood History

The play’s title refers to the name of a slave ship which audiences can hear creaking as they arrive. Actor Chuma Gault says their first rehearsal was held on August 20, the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first ship carrying west African slaves to Virginia.

“If that isn’t enough of a ‘how is it relevant to now’ than just about nothing else could be," Gault said.

For Ratteray, the sounds of a ship have another connection.

“My great-great-great-grandfather was Charles Roach Ratteray," she said, a master ship builder in the 1850s who would sail between Bermuda and the U.S.

As you can imagine, she says, there weren't many black men at that time building and sailing their own ships. 

“He could never arrive into port as the captain of a ship," she said, "so he would have one of his white crew mates assume the position of captain whenever they came into the U.S. dock.”

Gault has also examined his own genetic history. His mother, journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, was on an episode of PBS’ Finding Your Roots, where they believe they were able to find records of her great-grandmother listed as property on a slave schedule.

It’s a part of his past, but Gault prefers to focus on what’s happened next.

“I had less of a connection with being a descendant of Africans in bondage as I had a connection to African Americans who rose above that lot," he explained.

Although he says his character Caesar is considered the villain, as an actor, he can’t look at him that way. Instead, he focuses on him as a former slave who rose to be a landowner, businessman and constable.

“I was always raised to walk with my head held high and to never feel like anything anybody can have was not available to me," he remembered, "so I think in terms of Caesar Wilkes, that was the part of the character that I really identified with.”

As for Ratteray, she sees herself as standing on the shoulders of her ancestors and says working on this play has only strengthened that connection.

“To see the characters in the play and how filled with integrity that are about carrying that history and passing it on, it’s like, 'OK, I get this lesson, thank you,'" Ratteray said. "It brings a depth."

Gem of the Ocean runs at A Noise Within through November 16. Tickets and information can be found here.