Come to Dobama’s “Sanctuary city” to “feel Something”
Dobama Theater in Cleveland Heights is staging “Sanctuary City,” an award-winning play by Martyna Majok, from April 23 through May 27, 2026. The Cleveland premier is directed by Nathan Motta.
Read more and buy tickets here. Use the discount code “SANCTUARYFC” for $7 off. Need-based Pay-What-You-Can tickets are also available in advance on certain nights, and one hour before every performance (depending on availability).
Dobama’s website describes the play this way:
What would you risk for someone you love? 2001. Newark, NJ. Two teenagers, brought to the United States as children, now face an uneasy question: what are they willing to sacrifice for a future together in the only country they've ever known? The simple joys of coming-of-age are challenged by the uncertainty of their next chapters. Theirs is a story that fractures time and transcends memory — crossing boundaries, borders and genres in search of a safe place to call home. Pulitzer Prize-winner Martyna Majok brings light to the obstacles faced by DREAMers, lovers and lifelong friends in the heart-stirring and hopeful Sanctuary City.
Cleveland Scene explains:
B and G’s story begins in 2001, post September 11, when immigrants were under intense scrutiny. After 9/11, fear for national security and preventing future terrorist attacks were used as justification for the adoption and enforcement of a myriad of border security and immigration policies. Decades later, a similar fear has contributed to the current administration’s strict enforcement of and changes to immigration policy, thrusting the topic into the forefront of the current global news cycle and sparking national debate.
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance has written about the impact of 9/11 reactionary policies in various publications, including “The System Works As Designed: Immigration Law, Courts, and Consequences” and Chapter 22 of Broken Hope: Deportation and the Road Home. “Scarred, Then Barred: Immigration Courts Harm Black Mauritanian Refugees” provides real-life examples of Ohio immigrants who were denied legal status and subjected to deportation under these extreme policies.
The theater invited Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights to participate in talk-backs and other programming related to the play. Director Motta told Scene, “I think this [show] is for everybody. I hope people with different viewpoints come see the show… that’s how we start conversations. When we care about the characters, we start to care about the real people facing the same things. I hope people are moved — to laugh, to cry, to sigh… to feel something.”
See you there!
