American Dreams, in particular American Dreamers, are the subjects of this live streamed interactive entertainment. A reservation is required to gain access. A voiceover announces “we’ve entered a temporary government facility and security zone.” Happy whistling plays until the show commences.
A game show ensues which has a clever conceit. Three people compete for the one available United States citizenship opening. The Deputy Director of Otter (India Nicole Burton) warms up the audience and gleefully promises different group of citizens for every show! The three men on this night were from Israel, Mexico and Pakistan.
Before the game show actually starts, there is some banter with the delegates assembled. A rather sickly group sing-a-long of the National Anthem occurs which seems intentional. Our amusingly flippant hosts for the competition arrive via stream (Jens Rasmussen and playwright Leila Buck). This is the third season of the show. The “three contestants compete for Columbus’ gold.” The winner is granted “immediate citizenship into the greatest nation on Earth.” The sarcasm and irony is most welcome.
Round one starts with a section called How America Works. Points are awarded and subtracted throughout the game. Previously chosen volunteers join in for America’s Favorites and try to help the hopeful immigrants get more points. The evening I saw, all three helpers guessed wrong. I got all three correct perhaps because I am a better citizen than they.
The interactivity with the audience is amongst the stronger aspects of this entertainment. Polling was fun and worked smoothly. The downfall is that it was not used enough. Other forced participatory moments, such as the many requests for a show of hands, happened far too much. When half of the audience on screen does not use their camera, the execution suffered and it showed.
Part of the game show enables the contestants to try for an O-1 Visa by demonstrating a particular talent. One audience member described a dream she had. Usman (Imran Sheikh), the Pakestani, had to create a drawing of that dream. Adil (Ali Andre Ali), the Israeli, shared a recipe with the hosts, all of whom were socially distant. The Mexican contestant, Alejandro (Andrew Aaron Valdez), said his special skill was fixing people up when they get hurt. He was deported even though he arrived in the country at the age of five and his mother paid taxes. He also served in the National Guard. The storylines do get serious occasionally and the moments are nicely performed by all three men.
The game show feels elongated as there are sections in which momentum slows considerably. More interactivity – polling, trivia – could really spice up the fun quotient. I would tamper down the voice and thumbs up requests since they don’t seem to work as well as designed. We are all getting used to streaming dysfunction in 2020.
A sharp-edged satire about what it means to become an American citizen is surely a ripe target. A game show format that plays with the silliness of the form is a good choice to have a little laugh yet make a few key points. Overall, American Dreams falls short of its ambitions by not being darkly ironic enough.
The ending does offer surprise, however. Do you get to find out who won? Or if all or none of them won? That, my fellow citizens, is for you to find out for yourselves.
American Dreams is scheduled to run for seven weeks through nine different theaters around the country. The Working Theater’s live production is October 20 – 25, 2020. Links for other theaters can be found here.