Gabriel (Warner Miller) is a young man who has a way with words. When he speaks of sunrise, it is in comparison to a papaya, with the color of the light being the color of the flesh, and the sky awash with rays is likened to the juice of the papaya running down. Gabriel was one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan, who has been expatriated to the US and working in a Whole Foods store in Pittsburgh, halfway around the world from the place he was born. His past and present collide with Christine (Kim Zimmer), a Catholic woman who is recently divorced and with her teenaged daughter, Alex (Alexandra River). When Christine's and Gabriel's worlds collide, in "Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods," Christine makes a decision to mentor this young man. And they change one another's lives forever.

This new play, by Tammy Ryan, represents a collaboration between John Wooten, Producing Artistic Director-and founder-of Kean University's Premiere Stages, a program that showcases new works, and John Pietrowski, Artistic Director of Playwright's Theatre of New Jersey in Madison. Pietrowski also directs this production.

Christine is suffering from her recent divorce. She also knows her daughter is off to college soon and is in that "so over" everything stage, which we all go through, when we feel our parents are so tragically un-hip. She is looking for something more, and someone to whom to pour out the affection that she feels, and something in her resonates when she interacts with Gabriel. She recognizes someone who needs the love a family can bring. She invites him to dinner.

Our notions of time and elapsed time here in the West is very different from the sense of time and elapsed time several continents away. Gabriel arrives a week later with his best friend Panther (Jamil Mangan) in tow. Actually, Panther is Gabriel's ride. Panther, as his chosen name might suggest, considers himself to be a bad-ass. He's got warrior tattoos on his forehead and, unlike Gabriel, has assimilated into the urban landscape via dress, language and even cellphone ringtone. Gabriel, on the other hand, preserves his heritage, listening to Dinka music and planning to return to the Sudan. We are reminded strongly later, however, that one mustn't judge a book by its cover.

This play touches on a number of issues, including white privilege, how many people can we help when so many need it, whom are the "right" people to help, how much can one person do and more. I am a do-gooder in my private life and I'm recommending that all my friends, who have the same passion for social justice, see this play. While it takes a 10,000 foot view of many of the issues facing this endangered population, the lessons it teaches-awareness of others, true listening, the value of quid pro quo and opening one's life to new and different people-inspire connections across continents. We are one human family and it's high time we began to act like one. See. This. Play.

"Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods" opened on September 2 and runs only through 19, from Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. at the Zella Fry Theatre, Fine Arts Building at Kean University. Prices are $25 for standard tickets, $20 for seniors, and $15 for students. For more info, call 908/737-SHOW (7469). Don't miss it!