Review: DREAM HOU$E at Shotgun Players

I must admit I'm a sucker for home repair, renovation, or sales shows. I know they're heavily edited and far removed from reality, but it's a guilty pleasure. Eliana Pipes' Dream Hou$e has created a dark dramedy that satirizes the dream peddlers while examining the reality of the contestants. The result is a disturbing and emotional rollercoaster bolstered by three commanding lead performances.

Latina sisters Julia (Linda Maria Girón) and Patricia (Elena Estér) get the opportunity of a lifetime - an opportunity to remodel and sell their historic family home on a popular realty TV show called "Flip It and List It". But as my grandma always used to say, "beware of what you wish for". The process, led by the smarmy host Tess (Libby Oberlin), quickly evolves into a dark examination of gentrification, greed, opportunity, and family bonds.

The two sisters couldn't be further apart. Julia, a social studies teacher, is pregnant and alone. She's all about culture, legacy, and family memories. Patricia, an accountant, is practical, and a resentful caretaker. Paricia embraces the remodel with its hopes for a huge payday and believes money brings dignity. When Tess and the TV crew move in and begin the remodel, the fireworks start.

Director Karina Gutiérrez employs an interesting technique of stopping time when the two sisters need a sidebar to argue over their differing views on retaining the home as is, Julias abandonment of the family when their mother was dying, and Patricia's obsession with taking the money and running. The production crew slowly dismantles Carlos Aceve's set, removing memories and artifacts collected over 100 years of family ownership. The TV show interviews, which themselves turn darker and darker, are projected on a large overhead screen by Lighting Designer/ Video Designer Claudio Silva.

In a truly malevolent performance, Tess gets into the psyches of the two sisters, focusing on their deeply held motivations and destroying them. Julia's reliance on family history is called into question in a sad, vicious debunking of her long-held beliefs. With Patricia, she turns into a temptress, offering to buy her bracelet, her dress, then wickedly, her teeth and skin. Both are left devastated.

Girón and Estér get into the skin of their characters and give fine performances. Tess' character is the easiest to satire. We've all seen enough of these TV characters from tele-evangelists, to Oprahs, to Jerry Springer. The sisters are much more complicated and represent a reasonable dichotomy. There's much to chew on in Pipe's script - the loss of history, but the opportunity of new beginnings. The script could use some editing to whittle some time off the stated 90 minutes. Dream Hou$e brings up some important issues for minority populations who have some difficult choices.

Dream Hou$e runs through August 14th, 2022. Tickets available at shotgunplayers.org or call (510)-755-8162.

Photo credit: Robbie Sweeney

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