Sanctuary City Explores Immigrant Issues

The two main characters in playwright Martyna Majok’s “Sanctuary City” never refer to one another by name. For billing purposes, they are referred to as simply B and G. Act I unravels like a memory, flipping between moments and clipping through time as if thumbing through a photo album. It features no props, no robust backdrop, no furniture. It is all highly abstract, it is incredibly theatrical and–astonishingly–it is still achingly, wonderfully realistic.

That realism within Dobama Theatre’s Cleveland premiere of “Sanctuary City” infuses power into a timely narrative by provoking that element that is oh-so-essential for a piece based on social injustices and inadequacies: empathy.

“Sanctuary City” follows B and G, two undocumented teenagers growing up in Newark, New Jersey, in 2001. The two bond as they attempt to survive high school, cope with difficult familial conflicts and navigate the U.S. in a post-September 11 world. When G receives news about her immigration status, she makes a pact to help B find a path towards staying in the country. But as their lives progress and their opportunities diverge, B and G’s pact and lifelong friendship are put to the test.

Majok, a Pulitzer Prize and Obie Award-winning Polish-American playwright, is no stranger to exploring the immigrant experience through her work. Her breakthrough play, “Ironbound,” which follows hard-working American women pursuing the illusion of the American Dream, was inspired by her mother’s experience. While never expressly named, the pursuit of the American Dream also drives the characters of “Sanctuary City.”

Under the direction of Dobama’s artistic director, Nathan Motta, “Sanctuary City” fits well within Dobama’s repertoire of deep, socially relevant shows that can deliver a laugh or smile as easily as they can suckerpunch your emotions.

Majok’s script requires that B and G be believable; we need to believe in their youth, their friendship, their aspirations, their fears and their faults. Dobama’s exceptional cast fits the bill.

Playing B and G are Lloyd Wayne Taylor and Diwe Augustin-Glave, respectively. Taylor’s B is studious and responsible, caring and emotional, always wearing his heart on his sleeve. Augustin-Glave’s G is strong and independent, driven and witty, always ready to fight for what they believe in. Taylor is exceptionally sweet and lovable while Augustin-Glave is tenacious and admirable.

At their essence, B and G compliment one another: one is soft, the other hard, one is quiet, one is loud. Yet, their friendship is at first driven by their similarities. They are both facing the challenges presented to children brought into the country without documentation, but their friendship goes far beyond their shared immigration status. They share compassion. They share fear. They share jokes. They share the lack of a sense of belonging.

We see this loving, often humorous, bond develop in Act I, which takes place on a platform that is seemingly floating in space, untethered by time or place. Aided by the dynamic shifts in Madeline Barber’s lighting and Megan Culley’s sound design, Taylor and Augustin-Glave rapidly depict short vignettes from B and G’s time in high school. These snippets of memory can last minutes or only mere seconds before switching to another memory or doubling back to build off of a prior vignette.

The first Act is a theatrical take on cubism, one which playwright Majok is well versed in, and one which Dobama executes effectively. While it’s an approach that may require a minute of acclimation for some audience members, the cast and creatives portray the scene changes so efficiently that what could be a confusing structure in less capable hands is made entirely digestible, easy to follow and is rewarding in its uniqueness.

After establishing a strong understanding of B and G’s personalities and relationship within the first Act, the second half of the show adopts an entirely different, far more conventional structure with staging that is best left to be discovered in-person.

It is during this half of the show that we are seemingly transported into the present day, years after B and G graduated high school and their relationship has drastically changed. Jacob Gonzalez joins the cast as Henry, an intelligent, self-assured friend who complicates B and G’s relationship. This portion of the show is rife with drama and tension that’s punctuated by emotion-driven dialogue and snappy retorts. It is played with extreme authenticity by the entire cast, making for an absorbing, engaging scene, the ending of which feels as if it could teeter in any direction.

As we watch the characters stay up late to finish homework, masquerade as their parents to call in excuses for skipping school and dance with abandon at senior prom, it becomes easy to believe that B and G are real teenagers navigating adolescence and young adulthood. This realism is charming, but it is also devastating, for B and G must also face challenges that no child should be forced to weather. Their undocumented statuses impact nearly every aspect of their young lives, stymying their future prospects, rendering them vulnerable to abuse and leaving them to solve a problem that has no simple solution.

“Sanctuary City” takes place in the early 2000s, before the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy of 2012 provided protections for eligible undocumented young adults brought to the U.S. as children–protections that, in 2026, are under threat. The authentic performances within Dobama’s production of “Sanctuary City” not only give a tangible look at what life for undocumented children was like, but what it threatens to once again be.

“Sanctuary City” runs through May 17, 2026, at Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights. Visit dobama.org or call (216) 932-3396 for tickets, $25-42.