Home of the brave
As Juan José studies for his citizenship exam, his obsession to pass takes him on a fantastical odyssey. On a zig-zag journey through U.S. history, Juan discovers America’s best in a handful of unsung citizens who made courageous choices in some of the country’s toughest times. L.A.’s legendary Culture Clash partners with company actors in a cutting, comic mix of past and present, stereotype and truth that will move you into a deeper vision of our shared story. American Night premieres OSF’s highly anticipated U.S. history cycle, American Revolutions.
Artistic Team/Cast
Director
Scenic Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Music/Sound
Cast List
Juan Jose
Harry Bridges/Ensemble
Ben Pettus/Ensemble
Johnny/Ensemble
Frida Kahlo/Ensemble
Ms. Finney/Ensemble
Viola Pettus/Ensemble
Diego Rivera/Ensemble
Richard/Ensemble
* Member of Actors' Equity Association
Photo Gallery
Photos for this play will be added once it opens. Please check back after it has opened or visit our audio and video library of current productions.
Synopsis:
Mexican national Juan José is preparing to take a U.S. citizenship exam the following morning. Listening to the radio and poring over his Citizen’s Almanac of U.S. history, he falls asleep. The voices on the radio and the official version of the historical facts spin in his head. They blend with his fears, doubts and knowledge of an alternate version of history to create the fever-dream that forms the play’s structure.
In the fever-dream, as Juan José reads quotes from his Citizen’s Almanac, he is transported to the center of historical events, where he encounters figures—both important and little-known—who played key roles. The fever-dream is stylistically diverse—impressionistic, fantastical and realistic; it incorporates drama, heightened storytelling, sketch comedy—even a radio play.
The action leaps from moment to moment, from the signing of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (which ceded much of pre-war Mexico to the United States), to a makeshift hospital in West Texas run by a courageous African-American woman during the 1918 Spanish influenza, to Manzanar Relocation Center during World War II, where a Mexican-American teenager volunteered to be interned with his friends, to the funeral of a union dockworker in San Francisco killed by police in the 1930s. Through his move through time, Juan José encounters individual moments of courage, the fight for justice and progress, and both the best and the worst of American character.
After more adventures, including one on a raft with the Marielito refugees who came in the 1980s from Cuba, Juan José finds himself in danger. As a radio broadcasts a report of anti-Mexican immigrant pogroms, he is surrounded by menacing figures. A voice asks Juan José to name the 13 original colonies. The lights fade as he takes his test.
Subject to change.