Sanctuary City Sanctuary City

Sanctuary City  | 

September 14 — October 9

Two teenagers are just trying to get through high school, navigating the pressures of an unstable home, prom invites and graduation – and the threat of deportation. When she is naturalized, they hatch a plan to help him, but life, time, and distance threaten to push them apart. Can they make their way back to each other, or are the risks too great when they have everything to lose?

From Pulitzer Prize-winner Martyna Majok, this edge-of-your-seat drama is both profoundly human and undeniably universal. On stage through October 9!

“A compelling contemporary drama that has enigmatic characters, rising intensity, vigorous argumentation, timely themes, and an underlying sense of humor and compassion.”

-amNY

by Martyna Majok

Directed by Zi Alikhan

1 hour, 45 minutes
No intermission

TICKETS: $35+

Two teenagers are just trying to get through high school, navigating the pressures of an unstable home, prom invites and graduation – and the threat of deportation. When she is naturalized, they hatch a plan to help him, but life, time, and distance threaten to push them apart. Can they make their way back to each other, or are the risks too great when they have everything to lose?

From Pulitzer Prize-winner Martyna Majok, this edge-of-your-seat drama is both profoundly human and undeniably universal. On stage through October 9!

“A compelling contemporary drama that has enigmatic characters, rising intensity, vigorous argumentation, timely themes, and an underlying sense of humor and compassion.”

-amNY
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FREE Ticket Initiative

We’re thrilled to announce a FREE Ticket Initiative for our critically acclaimed production of Sanctuary City by Pulitzer Prize-winner Martyna Majok (Cost of Living) which must close Oct 9.

As the State Theater of California, we’re committed to making theater for everyone and for expanding the kinds of stories we tell on our historic stage. We believe that relevant new plays and fresh voices speak directly to our times and move the American theater forward.

Any audience members for whom cost is a barrier can email the Box Office or call Patron Services at 626-356-7529 to get FREE tickets.

If you’re an audience member who can afford to purchase tickets, we encourage you to continue to do so, and to consider giving a small donation to help support our efforts in providing access to the community.

** This initiative is not applicable for previously purchased tickets to Sanctuary City. Pasadena Playhouse recognizes that many community members have already purchased tickets to the show and thanks them for their ongoing support which makes this initiative possible.

Audience Testimonials

Trailer

Media

Cast

Ana Nicolle Chavez

Ana Nicolle Chavez

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Ana Nicolle Chavez

Ana Nicolle Chavez, an actress born and raised in Arizona, is over the moon to be joining this production of Sanctuary City. She’s a graduate of the State University of New York, Purchase College Acting Conservatory (BFA 2021). Television credits: Season 3 character arc on Truth Be Told on Apple TV+. Film work: Forgotten Lovers. A huge thank you to my mother, my dad, my brother, and my closest friends for their endless support along the way.

Miles Fowler

Miles Fowler

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Miles Fowler

Miles Fowler can next be seen in MGM’s Orion Picture’s feature film Bottoms directed by Emma Seligman. His past credits include HBO’s Winning Time, FOX’s The Resident, and the ABC Limited Series Women of the Movement. Miles studied at USC, where he received a BA in the Dramatic Arts. Miles Fowler is represented by Authentic Talent and Literary Management.

Kanoa Goo

Kanoa Goo

Henry

Kanoa Goo

Kanoa Goo is an actor who recently starred in the film I Was A Simple Man, which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and is now streaming exclusively on Criterion. He can currently be seen in a major recurring arc as Chris Sanford on ABC’s The Rookie. Other films include Other People opposite Jesse Plemons, Velvet Buzzsaw, Endings, Beginnings, and I Am Michael. Past television includes the NBC pilot Someone Out There, City On A Hill (Showtime), NCIS: Hawai’i (CBS), The Fairly OddParents (Paramount+), Hawai’i Five-0 (CBS), and Dwight In Shining Armor (Paramount Worldwide/BYUtv). Kanoa was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i. He would like to thank Zi, and the Pasadena Playhouse for this incredible opportunity.

Creative Team

Martyna Majok (Playwright)

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Martyna Majok was born in Bytom, Poland and raised in Jersey and Chicago. She was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, Cost of Living. Other plays include Sanctuary City, Queens, and Ironbound, which have been produced across American and international stages. Awards include The Academy of Arts and Letters’ Benjamin Hadley Danks Award for Exceptional Playwriting, The Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Play, The Greenfield Prize, as the first female recipient in drama, The Champions of Change Award from the NYC Mayor’s Office, The Francesca Primus Prize, two Jane Chambers Playwriting Awards, The Lanford Wilson Prize, The Lilly Award’s Stacey Mindich Prize, Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play from The Helen Hayes Awards, Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, ANPF Women’s Invitational Prize, David Calicchio Prize, Global Age Project Prize, NYTW 2050 Fellowship, NNPN Smith Prize for Political Playwriting, and Merage Foundation Fellowship for The American Dream. Martyna studied at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, University of Chicago, and Jersey public schools. She was a 2012-2013 NNPN playwright-in-residence, the 2015-2016 PoNY Fellow at the Lark Play Development Center, and a 2018-2019 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. Martyna is currently writing a musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby, with music by Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett, and developing TV and film for HBO, Plan B, and Pastel.

Zi Alikhan (Director)

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Zi Alikhan (he/him) is a queer, first-generation South Asian-American, culturally Muslim theater director. Directing: On That Day in Amsterdam (Primary Stages), Snow in Midsummer (Classic Stage Company), The Great Leap (Portland Center Stage), Manik Choksi’s The Ramayan (currently in development at Ars Nova), Ragtime (Playmakers Repertory Company). Upcoming: Somewhere at Geva Theatre, A Nice Indian Boy at Olney Theatre Center, and Rent at Paper Mill Playhouse. Zi was named one of TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color in 2021, and is thrilled to return to Pasadena Playhouse, where he was an SDC Observer in 2012.

Chika Shimizu (Scenic Designer)

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Chika Shimizu is a New York based scenic and projection designer. Theatre: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, The Irish Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre (CT Critics Circle Award Nomination), TheatreSquared, The Barrow Group, The Pond Theatre Company, Yangtze Repertory Theatre, Epic Theatre Ensemble, Artists at Play. Installation: Another DreamUn(re)solved (Ado Ato pictures, 2022 SXSW Innovation Award). MFA in Design from YSD. She is a faculty member of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. chikashimizu.com.

Jojo Siu (Costume Designer)

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Jojo Siu’s work has been featured both nationally and internationally at Pasadena Playhouse, Deaf West Theatre, The Chance Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, Sierra Madre Playhouse, Santa Fe Opera, Perseverance Theater, and Singapore Repertory among others. Her work has been recognized by Stage Scene LA, and the OC Theatre Guild. She is an advocate for Asian diversity and representation in her work. New Works: NorthThe Trial of Dedan KimathiThe Madres. Other projects: OedipusMidsummer Night’s DreamKing of the YeesJoy Luck ClubEurydiceHead Over HeelsSpring AwakeningBright StarInto the Woods, and Fun HomeKim’s ConvenienceOur Town.

Solomon Weisbard (Lighting Designer)

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Solomon has created original works in drama, opera, dance, installation, and music across the U.S., Canada, Dominican Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, and Slovenia. Highlights include Otello (Festspielhaus Baden Baden, Germany); Il Trovatore (Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Teatro Regio di Parma, Italy);  Oedipus (Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, Greece; Ancient Theatre of Pompeii, Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, and Teatro Mercadante di Napoli, Italy) all with Robert Wilson; Macbeth (directed by John Doyle at Classic Stage Company, NYC); The Shape of Things (created by Carrie Mae Weems at the Park Avenue Armory, NYC); Duat (Soho Rep, NYC); and Men on Boats (World Premiere: Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb, NYC). Solomon earned his MFA from the Yale School of Drama and is on the faculty at Portland State University.

John Nobori (Sound Design)

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John Nobori is a California-based sound designer, composer, and ensemble member of Cornerstone Theater Company. His work has been heard in plays produced by such organizations as The Getty Villa and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Other recent credits include Center Theatre Group’s production of Elliot: A Soldier’s Fugue and South Coast Repertory’s production of Our Town. He has been nominated for several awards for excellence in sound design and is the recipient of an Ovation Award for his work on The Golden Dragon at Boston Court Pasadena. BA University of California, Irvine.

Amanda Rose Villarreal (Intimacy Coordinator)

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Amanda Rose Villarreal is an intimacy choreographer and immersive artist. They are an associate faculty with Theatrical Intimacy Education and both founder and managing editor of the Journal of Consent-Based Performance. Amanda Rose earned their MA in Theatre Production with an emphasis in Directing from Central Washington University and their PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder. They recently choreographed intimacy for Pasadena Playhouse’s Uncle Vanya and Geffen Playhouse’s The Inheritance Part 1 and Part 2, and led consent-based trainings for faculty at the Lee Strasberg Institute and the Groundlings Theatre & School. Other recent intimacy choreography credits include work with The Catamounts and Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company, as well as creating consent mechanics for, and performing in, playable performances at Sinking Ship Creations in NYC and Moonrise Larp in Chicago.

Brandon Hong Cheng (Stage Manager)

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Brandon is excited to help bring Sanctuary City to Pasadena Playhouse. He is a San Francisco native and a graduate of California State University, Long Beach, with a B.A. in Technical Theatre. Premiere credits include The Great Leap-Pasadena Playhouse/East West Players, The Chinese Lady-Artists at Play, and Interstate & Man of God-East West Players. Selected credits include Grease-Musical Theatre West, Assassins and Mamma Mia!-East West Players, The Root Beer Bandits-Garry Marshall Theatre, Allegiance-Japanese American Cultural & Community Center/East West Players, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom-Door Ajar Theatre, 2012-The Musical-San Francisco Mime Troupe, and Conf(USED)-Youth for Asian Theater. He always wants to thank his family and friends for all their love and support. Enjoy the show!

Lydia Runge (Assistant Stage Manager)

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Lydia Runge is returning to Pasadena Playhouse after previously working on Head Over Heels and The Great Leap. Select credits include: Grease and Ragtime (Musical Theatre West); Our Town (South Coast Repertory); AssassinsMamma MiaMan of GodAs We Babble OnAllegiance: LA Premiere (East West Players); Two Mile Hollow (Artists at Play). She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse with a B.S. in Stage Management. Member of Actors’ Equity Association.

The Telsey Office (Casting)

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With offices in both New York and Los Angeles, The Telsey Office casts for theater, film, television, and commercials. The Telsey Office is dedicated to creating safe, equitable, and anti-racist spaces through collaboration, artistry, heart, accountability, and advocacy.

Safety Advisory

Last Updated: August 2022

At this time, the following safety plan is in place at the theater:

– All patrons, regardless of vaccination status, will be required to wear a mask fully covering their nose and mouth at all times while inside the theater.

– While full vaccination is no longer required, it is highly recommended.

– If at any time prior to your performance, you are not feeling well, are unable to meet our mask policy, or feel uncomfortable attending, please contact Patron Services for assistance with exchanging or returning your tickets.

Pasadena Playhouse will continue to address these guidelines as we approach performances. Please check back for our current policy before your scheduled performance.

Open Captioning

Guests who enjoy open captioning may request to be seated in view of a video screen with text descriptions synchronized to the onstage action designed for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

For audience members with hearing disabilities, and who now use assistive listening devices, hearing aids, cochlear implants, sign language and lip reading, this display – which can be used or ignored – allows a larger enjoyment of the experience of live theatre. With this technology, no guest is labeled as needing the captioning, or the need for special equipment required when seated.

The Open Captioned performance of Sanctuary City will be on Sunday, October 2 at 2:00 PM.

Get Tickets

Ticket Options

Tickets

To purchase tickets, select a date from the calendar above.

Group Sales

Bringing a group of 10 or more? Call Patron Services at 626-356-PLAY or email boxoffice@pasadenaplayhouse.org to learn about our group discounts.

Membership

With our newly revamped Membership Program built around flexibility and options, Members get early access to book their seats.

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