S2E6: Sanctuary City: Window into a DREAMer's World

Join RAC member Amy Rene Byrne as she chats with (most of) the cast of Sanctuary City. RAC Candidate Kimie Muroya and Theatremaker Apprentices Diamond Gloria Marrow and Bruce Gomez discuss the characters, humor, and power dynamics in the play in addition to the challenges and complexities of immigrating to America, the strain it puts on relationships, and the struggles young immigrants face finding their place in society. 

Sanctuary City runs runs January 18th-February 1st and is for mature audiences.

Recorded and Edited by: Amy Rene Byrne
Original Music by: Aaron White

Transcripts of all Season 2 and 3 episodes are available on our Buzzsprout website.

Check out our current season: http://www.bte.org
Ensemble Driven. Professional Theatre. Arts Education. Rural Pennsylvania. For Everyone. With Everyone.

Transcript

Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble: Down Center
Season 2: Episode 6
Sanctuary City: Window into a DREAMer's World

Amy: Welcome to Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble Down Center, a podcast where we revel in our company, our people, our art, and our town. Front and down center. Hello, everybody, I am resident acting company member, Amy Rene Byrne, and I am sitting here with our RAC candidate, Kimiee Muroya, and two of our Theatremaker Apprentices, Bruce Gomez and Diamond Gloria Marrow.

Now, these three are essential to our upcoming production of Sanctuary City by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok, that is opening later this month, and I will let each of them explain their involvement in this production. 

Diamond: Hello, hello, hello. I am Diamond Gloria Marrow. I am the assistant director for Sanctuary City. I am also understudying for the role G.

Kimie: Hi, my name is Kimiee Muroya I am playing G. 

Bruce: Hey everyone, I'm... my name is Bruce Gomez and I'm playing the role of B. 

Amy: I love how your brain just stopped there for a second, Bruce.

Bruce: Oh my goodness, short circuited. 

Amy: Just a quick update. Since the time of recording, there has been a small personnel change on this project.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our stage manager has had to step away, and Diamond Gloria Marrow has stepped in. While we are sad that we won't be seeing Diamond on stage for her understudy performances, we are thrilled to have her in the room in this new capacity. 

Kimie: I just want everybody to know we are recording in our theatre clubhouse right now, which is where our office is.

And, uh, you may hear some background noises. 

Amy: It is a little bit noisy in here today. 

Diamond: Cause we're hard workin 

Amy: Listen, we're fitting this in, in between meetings, and before, we are recording this in December, so we have a performance of A Christmas Story tonight, so I hope you all came out and saw it, because by the time you hear this, it's gone.

Kimie: Too late, baby. 

Diamond: I'm so sorry. 

Bruce: It's over. 

Kimie: That's the nature of Theatre, it's ephemeral. It is. It's fleeting. 

Amy: It doesn't last. All right, so this show is going to be directed by Dante Green. Some of you may know them, they are originally from Bloomsburg, they used to do shows with us when they were a kid, and they have gone on to do amazing things in the greater Theatre world.

They are the founding artistic director of the Makers Ensemble, and directing this show is the culmination of a three year fellowship that they have been doing with us. It is our Emerging Artist Fellowship, and we're really excited to see the completion of this experiment. So that's very exciting.

There's also a third member of the cast that is not here with us today. Uh, they will be playing the part of Henry and that is Chidube Egbo All right. So, at the time of re hording, re hording, re hording. 

Kimie: Yeah, baby. 

Amy: So, at the time of recording, rehearsals haven't actually started yet. And I imagine as you get into rehearsals, feelings are going to grow and change and shift.

But everything that I want to talk about today can just be a snapshot from this moment in time. So, let's talk about what is this show about. 

Diamond: So a little synopsis about Sanctuary City by Martyna Majok. In post 911 Newark, New Jersey, two teenagers who were brought to America as children become one another's sanctuaries from harsh circumstances.

When G becomes naturalized, she and B hatch a plan to marry so that he may legally remain in the country and pursue the future he imagines for his life. But as time hurdles on and complications mount, the young friends find this act challenges and fractures the closest relationship either has ever had.

Kimie: Um, yeah, I've been kind of talking about the show. It's a play about DREAMers and the things that we have to do to live where we want to live, which I think is something that is relevant to a lot of people and not just people with an immigrant experience of like the things that you have to sacrifice in order to make your life tenable where you want to live.

Amy: Yeah. 

Diamond: Mm hmm. 

Bruce: I will also say, I really think that this play reminded me specifically of just the ways in which we are very privileged just to be here. One of my favorite lines in this play, I couldn't quite quote it word for word, but B says, I want the opportunity to join the world that I live in. And it really is something to have to hide in any way, and I do agree with you when you say that it doesn't just apply to people with immigrant experiences, but people in any capacity who have to hide and cannot be the truest version of themselves in a society where others get to do even more than that.

You know, we're not on equal footing by any means, and this play was a good reminder of the sacrifices some others have to make just to get on what they perceive as level pegging. 

Diamond: There are a lot of difficult creative choices that have to be made behind the scenes with this production and the first act it is noted by the playwright that there are no physical objects on stage for the entire first act.

So the audience has to put themselves in a state of imagination that puts themselves in not only the mindset but the physical shoes of G and B as they go through the process of understanding the life of an immigrant. And how it evolves with their age, they become older and they don't get already, they don't get enough help from the government and people around them and they need to be careful with the life that they live and not trying to endanger themselves or their futures.

And then act two is very much enclosed domestic setting, which is where B and G kind of were in the first act, but they get a better lifestyle in act two, but it's still very much enclosed and there's nothing else on stage other than this box of a room and to isolate oneself. Physically and mentally really puts audience members who have or may have not gone through an experience like this into a mindset of empathy and sympathy.

Kimie: I think the play kind of mirrors particularly the experience of B, but a little bit of G, which I guess stand for boy and girl. Yeah, we can, yes. Yeah, the characters don't, uh, ever have like names that are explicitly stated, but within the script they're referred to as B and G. And then Henry has a name. I think that the script reflects their mental states in a way in that the whole first act bare stage.

You said no props, but also no mime. It's also stated in there. And there's a lot of time jumps, a lot of mid conversation jumps back to a different conversation and then back forward again and repeats. And it's a little frantic, a little frenetic and like it's very unstable. And then act two is when yeah, They're a little bit older and B specifically is trying to have some stability in his life and he has put down roots in a place that he wants to be.

I reread the script last night and I felt like there were some moments where B is like, I don't belong here, I don't belong anywhere. But by act two, he's starting to feel like he has a life that he wants to build. And so act two is when that like I think hyper realism almost comes in where you do see the apartment and it is one continuous long scene.

There is no more jumping. There is no flipping around. It is there. It is the drama of three people trying to navigate the relationships that they have with each other and don't have with each other and how those have changed. And it is, it's basically like a living room drama at that point. 

Diamond: Yep. 

Amy: Now, both B and G were brought to the United States when they were young, right?

Kimie: Yes. 

Amy: And G becomes naturalized, but B does not. And B overstays his visa. Correct?

Kimie: Both of them, I think both of them have overstayed their visa, G not to like run any spoilers, but like G through the course of the show gets to be naturalized through her mother's naturalization process. But yes, again, neither of those people were brought.

To the United States on their terms. They were brought as children, but they have grown up here. This is all they've ever known. This playwright specifically states that they are immigrants, but their mouths are American. And I was not born in America, but I was born with citizenship because my mother is American.

But I have immigrant experience through moving around a lot. I moved around to a lot of different countries and my father is not I'm an American citizen. He has a green card. He's technically an alien. But I have seen, there have been moments where it's been touchy about, Oh, is the green card going to get renewed?

And you know, the processes and the hoops that you have to jump through in order to do that. So when people talk about immigrants coming in the right way, the right way is so overwhelmingly difficult. And particularly if you don't speak English, you need interpreters, you need lawyers, and just the forms that you have to fill out and the hoops that you have to jump through is so insane.

Anybody who's coming here is usually coming here because they want a better life for themselves or for their children. And I don't think that you can fault anyone for wanting to better themselves. 

Amy: Yeah. I think about how readily people are, are willing to joke about the horrors of like the DMV. And I'm like, that is nothing compared to the bureaucracy and the hoops and everything that an immigrant would have to go through. 

Kimie: But particularly for people who didn't make that choice, who were brought there, not against their will, but without the agency of making that choice. What do we do to support those people who have grown up here, have known nothing but here, and don't belong to another culture and society?

Like, I'm half Japanese. I would never fit in in Japanese culture. I don't I don't speak the language if I go there I'm seen as incredibly westernized and I'm very often ostracized and like so I don't have another place that I can go if I were not to live in the United States and I feel very deeply for anybody who this is their home and their home doesn't want them. 

Amy: Yeah,

Bruce: I think something that I, I really do love about this play is the fact that when we are put in difficult situations as young people, it forces us to grow.

It forces us to mature earlier than where we should in a lot of ways. And I see that in G and B's relationship. You can see how much the stresses of the lives that they live has aged them. More than it absolutely should and then there are moments that remind you that these are just kids and there's a lot that they don't know and those moments are funny on the surface, like there are lots of humorous moments throughout this play, but it is also a sad reminder of how they are forced to adapt and evolve based on that situation.

Kimie: They're kids, they're idealistic, they have big dreams, have these ideas of how to solve the problems that they are facing. And as somebody who is no longer a kid, I see those and I feel so deeply for these characters, just knowing that they think that they have the answers and knowing that it's so much harder than they think it is.

It's just so much like the world is just so much more complicated. And that's not just in the whole like immigration status, just the world as an adult. Is so much more complicated than you thought it was as a child. 

Amy: Yeah, they're navigating these incredibly difficult adult situations as teenagers.

They're also navigating the interpersonal relationship that it is just to exist and, and be. Teenagers with each other, which, you know, should be the only thing that they have to focus on is like how difficult it is to grow up and mature and have relationships and like what it is to like, you know, quote unquote, be a kid and have that experience.

But as you said, Bruce, they just have that taken from them. You know, they're forced to mature so much faster than they have to. So they're navigating so much all at once. I like what we have on our website, that it's a powerful tale of two DREAMers trying to find sanctuary in the only home that they've ever known, and I also like to add the tag of, and each other, because I do think B and G are really looking for sanctuary in each other, and they've been each other's sanctuary in so many ways.

Kimie: This play has got me thinking a lot about the like, there's been a couple of relationships in my life, like platonic friend relationships, and like sometimes like the lines are blurred a little bit, but like these really tight, close people that I like almost trauma bonded with and depended on during really difficult moments in my life.

And when our lives started to diverge and shift away, like we stopped talking, like, there are people in my life who, you know, through high school and college, I would have said that this is like a lasting relationship, a lasting friendship forever, and I have not spoken to those people in years. So, this play has been making me think a lot about those folks.

Maybe I should reach out and say, hi

Amy: drop a little line 

Bruce: To me. It's been a little bit of a reminder. And I agree with you that what we ask of the people in our lives and how we view them, I think there's an element in this play of because of what they've been through, they're almost an entity in and of themselves, like the two of them almost inseparable, 

Kimie: A unit

Bruce: A unit. Yes. Thank you. And that's, that's how that feels. And. Oftentimes that happens in life, and I think a lot of people have been in those situations. Once you start to both branch off into your own lives, it's a difficult thing to accept and say, they are their own person, they are going to have their own lives, and that's okay.

And it doesn't make you any less close. It doesn't make your relationship any less significant. It's just how it is, and I think at that age, you have not yet unlocked the ability to just go, Life happens. You know, and you can say that now at this age with like friendships that, you know, you don't talk to people that often, you don't contact them that often, but in a time when parents were not super dependable for either character or maybe not around at all, you only have each other.

And to go from that to not seeing them at all is very difficult for these characters. And it is a huge strain on the relationship, maybe even more than the status that they're wrestling with at that time. 

Amy: You saying that about friendship, Kimie, makes me think about, you know, those friendships that we form when we're younger so often are a product of like people being in the same place at the same time, right?

Kimie: Shared experiences. 

Amy: Yeah. 

Kimie: And when you start having experiences that aren't shared, it drives a wedge. 

Amy: Yeah. Absolutely. Um, I have had some of those friendships in my life where we've reconnected later on and, you know, some of them stuck and some of them didn't. Um, but yeah, I don't know what I have. I don't have anything to say about that other than just a recognition. 

Kimie: I think its a human experience.

You know, that's one thing that, like, I encourage anybody who's on the fence about seeing this show, like, I don't believe that art can be apolitical, but like, I don't think that this. is a show that presents the correct answer. I think this is a show that is about the human experience and not necessarily like the immigrant experience is a layer that's on top of that, but like the base core premise of these characters are inherently human experiences.

And I think that's what's fascinating about this play and important about this play. 

Amy: Yeah, that's one of the things I really love about it. And I know the title, Sanctuary City, I'm sure will get some people on guard or get their hackles up. But I agree with you completely. This is, while not apolitical, it's not telling you what to believe.

It's not telling you what to think. It's not saying, like, this is the right way to be. This is the wrong way to be. It's just a story of two people going through a really difficult, very real situation

Kimie: right. Because we've all had experiences that things are out of our control.

Yes. And you try to take control by any means necessary. Yes. And I think that's what's happening in this play is, you know, again, they they're put in a circumstance where they don't have power and they were put in the circumstance without any agency or choice in it. And when they try to make plans to fix things and they go awry, they're growing up and learning human experiences.

And that's the crux of this piece. Is sometimes you cannot fix the situation you're in. 

Bruce: And I think with broader issues like this, I mean, that it would be very tough for anyone. I think to separate the political issue from the play, especially just considering its title. I think that with the title and with the issue at hand, it's really tough to separate that from any other part of the play.

But I think with broader political issues like this, we often lose that human empathy that We need to have for everyone and we don't necessarily think about people who did not make that choice, like you said, and setting aside how you feel about those issues, there are innocent people who are affected and continue to be affected, like the growth emotionally of these characters is stunted because of what they've had to go through.

All the other people around them, their age in this world don't have to. 

Diamond: One of my favorite aspects of the script is the playwright did not assign a specific nationality or ethnicity to B, G, or Henry. So anytime you were to ever see Sanctuary City be put on, I can only imagine the different types of stories that can be told with the same set of words, just with a different face, with a different ethnicity, with a different skin color.

So although the topic of immigration may be very political. The humanity and having a human being chase their dream, no matter their skin color, no matter what, it's not about country versus country. It's about a human wanting a better life for themselves. And if that is in America, then so be it. If it's in a different country, then so be it.

This piece can be translated into so many different circumstances and so many different languages and backgrounds. But because there is no distinct race or ethnicity chosen for any of these characters, the amount of possibilities that could be true. Are endless and I really admire that for those listening.

I am African American, Kimie, you said you're half Japanese, and Bruce, you are Latino. But just us three alone, the endless possibilities that could arise from this script again. Same words. Just different faces and different experiences. 

Kimie: I believe the original cast when the play was first produced, but they were Haitian Dominican and Ghanian and.

I'm a huge advocate of color conscious casting. I do not like color blind casting. I think you should be very deliberate about the bodies that you are putting on stage and how that can affect the story, add layers to the story, even without changing a single word. It will add something to a story. Like, yeah, we all love Brandy's Cinderella.

It's fun. 

Amy: It is the best Cinderella. 

Kimie: It's delightful. 

Amy: Handsdown. 

Diamond: I'm so glad you say that. 

Amy: A staple of my childhood. Listen. 

Kimie: It's delightful. There were many nights I laid awake going, how did that prince happen? How? How? How 

did that happen? What were his parents? 

His parents were black and white. Black and white.

And he was Filipino. Yeah. 

Diamond: With a Filipino. 

Kimie: Yeah. 

Diamond: And then Brandy's. 

Kimie: And then Brandy was.

Diamond: Brandy has step parents and a step mother. 

Amy: You didn't see any of Brandy's biological family. 

Kimie: It was delightful. 

Diamond: But Whitney was there, that's all we needed. 

Kimie: It was delightful, and it's a fluff piece. But I also, like, my friend told me about this production of the Scottish play.... Macbeth....

Amy: We're in the offices. We're not technically in the Theatre. It's fine. It's okay. 

Kimie: Um, that he saw, but so he told me this production he saw where they didn't change a single thing about like, do cuts or change the story. The casting was all people of color, except for the witches who were three white men.

And that tells a story to me that, that, that is a story about white people. Separating communities of color and pitting them against each other in order to, you know, keep them from rising up. And that's just, you know, you don't have to use this in the podcast if you think it's too controversial, but, you know, that's just an example of, like, that's a primo example of color conscious casting.

Double double trolling trouble. By the virtue of the bodies who are on stage telling the story, you add a layer. You add nuance and flavor. 

Bruce: I was going to go back to the topic of pitting people against each other. I think in this situation with, like you said, how difficult it is to immigrate the right way, we see throughout this play, not to get too much away, but we see the strain on the relationship that Simply one person achieving citizen status and the other not, that strain is put on that relationship simply because it's such a highly coveted thing and it's so difficult to get.

There's immediately a power imbalance. Yes, and now there's, and now there's a burden on another person to try to pull others up and. What the implications of that are if you choose not to, when it's largely a deeper issue that neither one of them should have any say in, like, it should be bigger than that and it shouldn't be dependent on what either one of these characters, who are still largely young adults, have to say about it.

It's, it's complex and it's a heartbreaking thing to watch their relationship ebb and flow throughout. And to see that sort of conflict that takes place when it really isn't either of their faults, they're just subject to those external forces that they have no control over. 

Amy: There's something I want to touch on.

You said earlier, Bruce, about how this show does have a lot of humorous moments. And I think that that's an important thing to talk about because I think that one of the things that makes it so multi dimensional and so multi faceted is it's not just the problem at hand, right? Like there is all of this life that is just so multifaceted.

So present through it. And I was thinking of when you were talking about like power and like when people don't have power, like the ways that they try to take it. And, you know, one of the ways that we try to retain power over our own lives are through humor, through amusement, like trying to find the, the ways to laugh when stuff's really messed up.

You know, I think that that for an audience is so essential to be able to help them digest these really complex stories or to help them face situations or problems that they might not want to otherwise, like it helps them find a way in, if that makes sense. I say this as the lone white person in this room.

Diamond: No, I get it. Your comment makes me think of the prom scene. That's so funny to me. The, the different types of music that they play and when they're putting on the boutonniere and it's just all explicatives the entire time. She like stabs him and it's like a whole thing. See, it's, it's just so funny. Those moments. They do really stick out in a sea of darkness. 

Amy: Yeah, well, and it's just, it's human and we, and that is something that everybody no matter your background or your experience or your political views or anything like that, that is something we can all connect to, like, those are human moments. 

Diamond: Yeah, very much so.

Bruce: What I do love about that dynamic in that relationship and. The how it's portrayed in this play in a lot of ways is a lot of like a trauma bond but also these two characters are not just drawn to each other for that reason Like there are moments where you can tell that they just enjoy each other and they they have a good time Their banter is fun, and they have that fun little dynamic.

It seems sometimes like If B got the wrong order at McDonald's, G might be the one that runs forward and is like, "Hey, you got the order wrong." And B's like, no, you don't have to. It is, it is very much like those interesting dynamics are fun. And that to me is just as important as showing the hardship that they go through.

I think it makes them all very human. And to see them enjoying themselves and to see them happy, it makes the hurt that much worse. 

Kimie: I'm looking forward to the challenge of, cause I've only known you since August. Of developing a relationship on stage of having grown up together and known each other for years, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Yeah, it's gonna be fun. 

Diamond: And another aspect on top of that, a lot of what I read about the relationship between B and G is unspoken. There are a lot of ellipses, a lot of silent moments. And that makes the intimacy and the type of relationship that much stronger when you don't even have to speak you just know there's so many unspoken moments in this piece that just make act Two, the drama, astronomical. 

Kimie: Yeah, that's juicy. Act Two is juicy. It is juicy. Juicy. 

Diamond: The drama, ooh, we should, we should, we should call Bravo. 

Amy: Oh, I think that that is a, a really good segue into, is there anything in particular that you hope our audience gets out of this production? 

Kimie: I hope people have an experience of seeing themselves reflected on stage in a way that they weren't expecting, seeing manner and humanity in a place that they might not have been expecting to see.

Bruce: I hope they see this as more than, more than, than something that is specifically advocating. Or that is like, because it does, it does send a message, no doubt. And like you said, I don't think any art is apolitical, but I think it is much more than like a political advertisement. There's so many more layers to it.

And there are so many stories being told about interpersonal relationships and what it is like for young people that go through hardship. Of any kind and how it stunts them and how they have to live with those repercussions and how they, if it affects their relationships going forward, that is something important to me that I really hope that the audience gets out of this and that maybe they can draw to their own lives.

Diamond: I hope the audience understands that there is no right answer on how to live your life. The decisions you make for your life specifically do not affect me. And if anything, I hope that the people around you uplift you and put you in a space where You can create those decisions in a, in a safe manner.

It's all about living life the way you want to, you intend to, and the way that is safest and most compassionate for you. No one else. 

Amy: Very nice. Alright, anything else before we go? 

Bruce: I have a question for Kimie. Have you been doing that this whole time for a reason? Or is it just the natural hand positioning?

Oh, wow. Yeah, for a reason. Okay, cool. 

Kimie: Not the whole time, only the last 15 minutes. 

Bruce: Oh, wow. Yeah, no, you got me 15 minutes ago. 

Diamond: Her knee was covering it. I couldn't see. 

Kimie: I've been, I've been doing the, the, when you make a little ring with your first finger and your thumb, uh, below the waist and make somebody see it.

Uh, I've been doing that with Bruce since Twelfth Night. 

Diamond: Yeah, it's kind of like a gotcha. 

Kimie: Made you look. Made you look. I got him, I got him last night during, during Christmas Story. 

Amy: I feel like that's just like building blocks for what you were talking about. That relationship. 

Kimie: Yeah, yeah. Yes. 

Bruce: Oh, there are many blocks stacked.

That's a, that's a tower you're talking about. 

Kimie: You know, I've just been doing character research for a really long time. I'm actually a really good actor. I'm dedicated to my craft. 

Amy: So method. So method, this has been wonderful. Um, thank you everyone for joining us in this very noisy office today. This has been Bloomsburg Theatre ensemble down center, ensemble driven, professional Theatre, arts education, rural Pennsylvania for everyone.

With everyone. We do want to thank the Foundation of the Chamber of Commerce for use of equipment that helps make recording this podcast possible. Sanctuary City previews January 18th and 19th and the opening performance on January 20th are all pay what you decide, which means you come, you watch the show, and then you pay us what you think the show is worth.

So, if you're on a budget, pay a little. If you love the show and you can, pay a lot. We'll take it. The show runs February 4th and is for mature audiences. Please check out our website, www. bte. org for show information and to purchase tickets and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to get the most updated information about what's happening at BTE.

Thank you so much, guys. 

Diamond: Of course. 

Amy: Or sorry, I'm trying to cut guys from my vocabulary. Thank you so much. Friends. Y'all. Friends. Yeah, y'all. 

Kimie: Let's get into it. Y'all. Friends. Folks. Hoomans. 

Bruce: Four on three. One, two, three, four. 

Kimie: Four. 

Bruce: There it is.