Playwright Juan Ramirez's The American Dream seems to be taken from the stories that are kept out of the headlines. It is the story of a "coyote," Efren (Jorge Aguilar), and his human cargo Corina (Kairis Rivera) waiting on the payment to finish their journey to New York City. Corina hid in the back of Efren's truck after escaping Guatemala and then to an undisclosed holding place to await a wire of $2000 from her husband. The story takes place in one room and as the action goes forward, that room becomes even smaller with each character's desperation.
Director Omar Vicente Fernandez directs this one-act play with tightly measured beats as the characters rage against each other to both get the upper hand and escape the predicament they find themselves willingly ensconced in. Aguilar is very good as the coyote whose job it is to hold the cargo until the money is wired to cover his fee and to pay the capo who runs the operation. Aguilar's character is like a coiled snake. He seems cold and angry but is also haunted by some of the things he has been forced to do. The coyote is as much a pawn as the cargo in most instances. Efren came to America possibly the same way and had a dream of making a life with his wife and it all fell apart. His brother is in prison possibly for the same crimes and Efren was pulled into smuggling to survive.
Rivera plays Corina with a just right balance of fear and manipulation. She tries to befriend Efren and tell him about her life in Guatemala and her dreams of what she and her husband would do in America. It is a blend of innocence and hope that turns to emotional manipulation and then Corina is more than just cargo. They are from the same town in Guatemala and are connected in ways that throw Efren for a loop. Corina has a scheme of her own that is in anticipation of things going wrong. She has an hour to live while they wait for the money transfer. Efren keeps telling her to "get in the box," which is literally a tiny space with cardboard for her to sit in. He begrudgingly gives her a discarded milk crate to sit on in the box.
Ramirez expertly adds the illusion of an hour ticking by waiting for the phone to ring. The play is longer than the hour portrayed but it feels as if the audience is in that tiny room. The dialog is taut and morbid, which some audience members found to be funny. It could be considered dark comedy or even absurdist if the subject matter were not so current and emotionally loaded. People have died being smuggled into this country in overheated cargo holds of trucks. It makes headlines for about a week and then what happens? No one ever seems to follow the money. The American Dream does follow the money and shows how the business of turning people against each other enriches the crime world of pimps and other illegal ventures.
Ramirez doesn't pull any punches. When Corina asks what will happen if the money doesn't come exactly on time, Efren pulls out a gun and tells her that she will be killed and her body will be used for dog food. It is a horrifying thought but it has been used as a threat in other works like Robert Altman's Kansas City and Guy Ritchie's Snatch. Organized crime has more than one way to dispose of a body. The American Dream has an ending that I cannot reveal but it was a heart-pounding buildup..
The American Dream has some fight and body search scenes that are realistic and well-choreographed by Intimacy/fight choreographer Maddie Cutin. The action is brutal and can be triggering as it is male-on-female violence. The claustrophobic set is designed by Harrison Ornelas. It resembles a squalid flop of concrete and boarded-up windows. There is graffiti on the walls and the meager furniture looks as if it were picked from the garbage. Efren's tiny battery-operated television with the antenna wrapped in aluminum foil is the only entertainment in the room.
Aguilar and Rivera do a great job of characters circling each other like caged animals with outbursts of anger and violence that make the time fly by in The American Dream. I think that it is a good play with a couple of kinks to work out. The theater is a black box setup. The sightlines are difficult so there are some seats that are not great for viewing. Some of the action is obscured and that could be remedied by changing the placement of the door and where Corina is made to sit. There was a snafu with the sound when a gun was supposed to go off. It was a small thing but it was major to the plot and heightening of the tension.
In all, I think that The American Dream is a good play and an unnerving look into the world of human trafficking. The American Dream is part of Destinos: the 6th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival. It is definitely worth checking out, especially with the migrant situation in Chicago and other cities. Thousands of people are crossing the border and being bused to northern cities. There's also an unseen crisis of human trafficking that puts a terrible burden on those who are trafficked for illegal purposes.
The American Dream runs for 90 minutes with no intermission at the Madison Street Theatre, 1010 W. Madison St. in Oak Park. The play is in English with projected Spanish subtitles. The play runs through October 29. Tickets are $22-30; for tickets and more information please visit SubtextStudioTC.org.
For more information on this and other plays, see theatreinchicago.com.
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