Stephanie Anne Bertumen, Clay Man Soo, Keivin Vang Photo by Tony Nelson Last year Ironbound produced by Frank Theatre and written by Martyna Majok wowed me and my fellow Twin Cities Theater Bloggers receiving five Twin City Theater Blogger Award nominat

Last year Ironbound produced by Frank Theatre and written by Martyna Majok wowed me and my fellow Twin Cities Theater Bloggers receiving five Twin City Theater Blogger Award nominations and winning one. Sanctuary City is this years first offering from the socially minded theater company and is also written by the Pulitzer Prize winning Majok. It’s another thought provoking and challenging play that explores the timely topic of immigration. Uniquely structured, the first act contains dozens of brief moments, memories over a course of a couple of years that establish the close friendship between two teenagers G and B, who live in the US illegally. During these scenes which last anywhere from 10 seconds to a couple of minutes each, we learn that one becomes a citizen and they hatch a plan to marry each other so that the other can legally stay in the country as well. Act two is one scene which explores what happens to that plan when a third person, Henry, enters the pictures as a romantic partner. Every reveal in the second act clarifies the situation while complicating the issue itself. As I sat in the audience I found myself constantly reconsidering what I thought moments earlier.

Majok’s script is brilliantly directed by Wendy Knox who always manages to obscure what should be from the audience while making what we should understand clear. When you see the play you will understand what a complex task that is. Joe Stanley’s set design helps to illustrate the differences between the two Acts of the show and make tangible the idea of the first Act as a series of memories. Act one is performed on a bare stage with a few simple boxes that take the place of a bed or a bench. Act Two is revealed as B’s apartment fully realized indicating that this is happening in real time. Majok’s script further distinguishes this fact by the simplistic, almost black and white aspect of the dialogue and emotions in Act one compared to the intricate and often amorphous reality of the present. Tony Stoeri’s lighting is also intricate to the telling of this story particularly in Act one in which the lights fade down and back up to indicate the jump to a new memory.

Stephanie Anne Bertumen who plays G is stunningly good conveying unspoken backstory and emotion through her performance. We not only get a sense of unexpressed emotions and life details but have a sense of what they are without the script actually dictating any of it. Clay Man Soo who plays B, takes as a cue to his character one of the lines his character says at the beginning of the show, “I don’t know what to do.” I’m not saying Soo doesn’t know what to do, I mean that is the key to portraying this character and Soo picks up on it and uses it. B spends his life in Limbo; as an illegal, his live options if he wants to stay in the US are limited, he can’t get aid for school and he needs to work jobs that don’t enforce certain regulations. Because of the introduction of Henry to the plot, he doesn’t know if he’s still going to be able to escape Limbo with G. If he can’t, should he continue to live this life or return to his birth country? Soo perfectly captures a sense of being lost, unsure what he should do, always looking to others for guidance. Henry is played by Keivin Vang and it’s a difficult, at least initially, unlikeable role. Vang does a good job of conveying the characters conceitedness. He enters the play at a point where a third is unwanted by the audience and first impressions are that he is just going to make everything fall apart. But he softens and as more is revealed, we find something to appreciate in the character for a time. It’s here that Majok’s script kicks into overdrive requiring the performers to manipulate the audience’s allegiances from moment to moment.

Sanctuary City runs around an hour and forty five minutes with no intermission. It is a drama, but also contains humor and while it will leave you with a lot to think about and does not end with a super sunny resolution, it’s creativity and performances will leave you feeling excited and engaged rather than depressed. Sanctuary City runs through February 23rd at Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://franktheatre.org/events/sanctuary-city/