When we first meet Boseman Salvage Junior (Taylor A. Blackman), he’s shoveling snow, and turns it into a dance. The labor he’s doing can’t take away from the grace with which he’s doing it. As he continues to move, in more abstract ways, the dance becomes a strong expression of character, a portrait of a young man with more within him than he knows how to contain. In that context, his act of shoveling becomes meaningful, given the mountain of snow that hovers in the background for his dance — and for the entire play. No matter how much he shovels in that moment, can he make a dent in it? But he works, and dances, anyway.
That first overture-like scene sets the tone for The Salvagers, written by Harrison David Rivers and directed by Mikael Burke, celebrating its world premiere with a run at Yale Repertory Theatre through Dec. 16. This often funny and, in the end, deeply humane play explores the complex dynamics of a small family — Boseman Salvage Senior (Julian Elijah Martinez), Nedra Salvage (Toni Martin), and their son Junior — who, by the time we meet them, have already been working hard to heal from the hurts in their complex shared history. The Salvagers traces the emotional miles they have traveled and the distance they have yet to go by focusing on a turning point in their relationships, after which they cannot be the same.
