American Dreams is an ensemble-driven participatory performance that imagines a world where the only way to gain citizenship to the U.S. is by competing in a nationally-televised game show run by the government. Through our most valued and frustrating of democratic processes, audience members choose by majority rule their favorite of three contestants in each of five rounds, culminating in a final vote for their newest fellow citizen. As the game unfolds, audience investment and implication intensifies, blurring the lines between truth and fiction in an immersive, interactive exploration of who and what we choose to believe, and how those decisions shape what it means to be(come) American.
The show transforms abstract political debates into personal, tangible questions: What shifts when we aren’t talking about distant borders but potential neighbors? What kinds and levels of bias do we bring to the conversation? Who would you take a chance on? How far would you go to advocate for your choice? Do you trust the system? If not, why and how do you continue to participate in it?
The format is designed as a series of provocations and decision-making opportunities that accumulate into an experience that reflects as much about the audience as the contestants.
Ultimately, the piece is both interactive and immersive not because the audience is inside the journey of the play, but because the journey of the play is inside them.
AMERICAN DREAMS will Premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre in February of 2018 and will be touring nationally and internationally beginning in April of 2018.
For booking inquiries contact Tommy Kriegsmann at ARKTYPE.
