Review: SANCTUARY CITY at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

In Martyna Majok’s SANCTUARY CITY, two teenagers in Newark, New Jersey — named only B and G (presumably standing for Boy and Girl) — must contemplate the complexity of their simultaneous youthfulness and the need to make grown-up decisions well beyond their years. Both B and G are migrants in the United States; they emigrated from unnamed countries as young children, and now as they approach high school graduation, must grapple with what it means to live illegally in the United States. When G becomes a naturalized citizen, she offers B a bold proposition so that he, too, might be able to stay. Majok’s play beautifully threads this needle between youthful impulsiveness and the immense pressure on the protagonists to make weighty adult decisions. 

Though the play runs an intermission-less 95 minutes, Majok splits it into two acts — each with its own distinct narrative style. In the play’s first act, we meet B and G in 2001 as high school seniors. This act unfolds like an improv game of “take that back” (although, of course, none of the material is improvised). The play flits from vignette to vignette, showing us different moments from B and G’s senior year. Majok also takes us through different variations of each moment as B and G contemplate different paths for the future of their friendship. And though B and G are composites of different people that Majok knows, Grant Kennedy Lewis and Jocelyn Zamudio make them seem extremely real. Lewis plays B with a genuine sweetness and contemplativeness; he has a grounded energy even as we see him contemplate the impossible decision of whether to return to his home country with his mother or remain illegally in the United States. Zamudio, meanwhile, talks a mile-a-minute as G and wholly embodies the character’s bright-eyed impulsiveness. It’s a stunning study in contrasts, and the actors easily convey a deep sense of connection. Director Steph Paul’s staging for this act, however, was somewhat confusing. Lewis and Zamudio don’t use any props in the first act, and Yeaji Kim’s scenic design is a blank stage — flanked only by a  set of fire escape stairs indicating the entrance to B’s apartment. It’s possible that the lack of props and the miming are meant to mimic the varied versions of the future that B and G contemplate, but I don’t think that the use of physical objects would negate the originality of Majok’s presentation. Kudos to Mikhail Fiksel’s sound design, too, as he delightfully plays some iconic early 2000s pop songs for B and G’s prom scenes. 

The second act takes audiences several years ahead to 2006 — and to a straightforward narrative style. A full-fledged apartment emerges from Kim’s set, complete with furniture and holiday lights, and there are fewer lighting shifts from lighting designer Reza Behjat to indicate tonal shifts. In this act, G returns back to Newark after her senior semester at college to visit G — and revisit the offer she made him three and a half years ago. This part also introduces Henry (Brandon Rivera), who complicates the dynamic (I won’t say exactly how to avoid spoilers). Rivera is an equally strong performer to match Lewis and Zamudio, though his character was less fleshed out on the page (that may be in part because we don’t meet him until halfway through Majok’s script). Majok skillfully uses the linear presentational style to contrast with the play’s earlier act. B and G are no longer optimistic young teenagers; now, they’re young adults who need to be serious about how their lives will move forward. Lewis and Zamudio maintain their characters’ consistent personalities, but they also beautifully convey how B and G have grown and changed over the years. The tension is palpable in this act — although then the play comes to an abrupt ending. 

Majok has provided a lovely portrait of a deep friendship between two young people who face challenging obstacles as migrants. Lewis and Zamudio bring that thick-as-thieves friendship to colorful life. It’s also obviously not lost that Steppenwolf has chosen to stage this play at a pivotal time; SANCTUARY CITY is a microcosm of the larger migrant crisis in this country. By centering the play on B and G, however, Majok avoids making grandiose statements and instead really lets the play be about these two characters, their friendship, and how they navigate the impossible choices they must make as they transition from teenagers into adulthood. 

SANCTUARY CITY plays the Ensemble Theater at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1646 North Halsted, through November 18, 2023. Single tickets are $20-$114.

Photo Credit: Michael Brosilow

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