Miami-based playwright Ariel Cipolla wrote So You Think You Can Stay in 2021, an immersive play gamifying the immigration system as a reality show in which the prize is U.S. citizenship.
“I knew that the people who were going to sit in that audience were going to be liberal, primarily, and immigrants themselves,” he said in an interview for WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
Cipolla is an immigrant, too, with Mexican and Argentinian heritage. He has a point of view, but wasn’t interested in a play that simply preaches to the choir. That alone was motivation to send the play around the country, working with regional theaters to adapt the play to various types of audiences—like those in Bloomington-Normal.
Coalescence Theatre Project debuts its production of So You Think You Can Stay this weekend, with four performances at the Normal Theater.
“I don’t think I gain anything by having a play that just pats yourself on the back,” he said. “This play is not for anyone in particular. This is for everyone to come to the table, allow yourself to acknowledge where you stand, and hear other perspectives.”
The contestants on the farcical reality show come from a variety of backgrounds and views. They want the same thing but have different beliefs about who deserves to win the right to stay in the United States—and why. The characters in So You Think You Can Stay don’t have names. Their countries of origin are not identified. And the host of the show is a character named America (Anya Giordano), who is the only white character in the cast.
“This play is all about choices,” said Cipolla. “What is the ‘right’ choice and what is the ‘wrong’ choice? And where is the gray area in that?”
“Even people that have not necessarily dealt with immigration or know people that are dealing with immigration, they can still relate to the desperation and how these circumstances fall into place to directly affect an individual to the point that they have to make a choice,” said director Alejandra Luna, an MFA directing candidate at Illinois State University who is originally from Arizona.
“It’s not about being ‘good’ or ‘evil.’ It’s about the luck of the draw. If you’re being put in a situation where you’ve gotta do what you gotta do to survive—there’s no such thing as right or wrong. You have to survive. There’s a big population with a lot of privilege that will never be put in that situation—but that’s just luck,” she said.
Cipolla said it’s especially interesting to set So You Think You Can Stay now, when immigration debates have reached a boiling point. The Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on unauthorized entry to the United States and aggressive tactics used to deport immigrants without legal status have brought discussions to the forefront and led to increased migration of undocumented immigrants to the Midwest. CBS News and others reported that President Trump has even floated the idea of a game show fast-tracking citizenship—four years after Cipolla wrote So You Think You Can Stay.
“I did not intend for the dystopia to become real,” he said. “It was a cautionary tale. Our initial intention was to walk people through the very real system of immigration court. When we did the first reading, it was so heavy. It was almost like this is too real that it is off-putting to want to engage in the conversation. I think the farcical nature is more a tool to allow yourself to feel disarmed and feel OK laughing at some of the reality going on… and ask yourself tough questions.”
So You Think You Can Stay by Coalescence Theatre Project has shows at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15 and 16 at the Normal Theater, 209 W. North St., Normal. Tickets are $10 at normaltheater.com. The show involves audience participation.
