Review: SANCTUARY CITY at The Seattle Rep

Dear Readers, I want to share with you one of the issues I come up against while writing these reviews.  How much of the story to tell you.  Especially with shows such as “Sanctuary City” by Martyna Majok, currently playing at the Seattle Rep, I want you to experience it somewhat blind, and let this brilliantly layered show unfold and wash over you the same way it did for me.  But I want to tell you what it’s about.  So, I’ll do my best and still try to avoid the spoilers.

It’s a pre DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) world.  And two teens (played by Emilie Maureen Hanson and Junior Nyong’o), brought to the country when they were children by their respective parents, now face uncertain futures after living in the US for a decade.  The two of them have grown up together, leaning on each other through intense familial hardships, and seem to have an unbreakable bond.  But when one of them becomes a US citizen, they devise a plan to marry so the other can become a citizen as well.  But how much can this friendship survive when fear, time, and life get in the way of their plans?

The story ranges in time from 2001-2006 and is told in two parts.  First we deal with their maturation from kids to teens, stunningly told in a series of brief moments that bounce us back and forth in their timeline with no set and only simple lighting shifts to indicate a change in the moment.  It may sound confusing and in lesser hands it would be but director Desdemona Chiang as well as these two gifted actors handle it perfectly.  Once entrenched into this storytelling device, we never felt unsure which moment in time we were in.  The second part loses that time shift and puts us firmly in one evening in 2006 as everything comes to a tumultuous head.

Chiang and her crew have created an all too real world for us.  From a fantastic set from Sara C Walsh, to some wonderfully character defining costumes from Christine Tschirgi, to the aforementioned seemingly simple yet well planned lighting from Chih-Hung Shao, to an incredibly immersive sound design from André Pluess, the harsh realities of their world is brought to heartbreaking life.  Not to mention the magnificent staging from Chiang who not only kept the pace from ever dragging but whose staging also created a kind of beautiful dance with the time shifts in the first half.  And of course there’s Majok who has taken a tragic yet simple situation and crafted a beautifully layered and surprising script that will stick with me.

But it’s this trio of actors that make this show what it is.  Yes, trio, as I’ve yet to mention Josh Kenji as Henry who is … no, I really don’t want to tell you who he is lest I unleash a cadre of spoilers.  I’ll just say his entrance brought a twist I wasn’t expecting.  But then this whole show is about the twists and reveals as we dive deeper and deeper into these complex characters.  And each of these actors bring in a presence, a likeability, and a raw vulnerability to their roles that brought me to tears.  Again, I don’t want to say too much.  I’ll just say that these three are actors I’m unfamiliar with, but whom I will gladly keep an eye out for in the future.  Especially Nyong’o whose final riveting moments put the nail in my coffin as to how wrecked I was for the evening.

This is simply stunning storytelling and reminds me why I love live theater.  And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give “Sanctuary City” at the Seattle Rep a “run over with an emotional steamroller” YAY+.  There were far too many empty seats in the house for my liking for this wonderful show.  But it’s not a known title.  It’s not flashy.  It is, however, a must see!

“Sanctuary City” performs at the Seattle Rep through March 31st.  For tickets or information visit them online at www.seattlerep.org.

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