American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose

Originally produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Night: The Ballad of Juan Joseis that rare, blessed thing -- an hilarious farce which also has a social bite to it, a bite that draws blood.

Written by Richard Montoya and his Culture Clash pals (with the help of director Jo Bonney), American Night tells the picaresque story of Juan Jose (the charismatic Rene Millan), a kind of Mexican Everyman who, driven by economic need, must leave behind his pregnant wife (Sefanie Beatriz) and sneak into the USA in search of work. Not content with having qualified for temporary residency, he yearns to become a citizen so that he can bring his family north and fully enjoy his little slice of the American Dream.

First to aid him in his quest for legitimacy is a Mormon couple, Ben and Viola Pettus (Rodney Gardner and Kimberly Scott), whose do-gooding and proselytizing are satirized wickedly by Montoya. As Juan Jose continues to prep for his citizenship exam by perusing American history flashcards, notorious parts of that history come alive, beginning with the Mexican-American War and its land-grabbing, imperialistic outcome. The rapid-fire satirical onslaught continues from there, aimed at such targets as Lewis and Clark, slavery, the KKK, the exploitation of Chinese labor, the Depression, WW II, the incarceration of Japanese-American citizens and the witch-hunt 50s, the stoner 60s.

And that's just for starters. Mixed in with these broad comic strokes are quick little jibes at Nixon, radio theatre, Bob Dylan, Nike, Las Vegas, the Tea Party and Asian-American over-achievers. With such a large canvas to fill, the busy, hard-working nine-person cast must double and triple up on roles, change outrageous costumes in a twinkling, and burst into song without warning.

Director Bonney keeps the inspired madness going at a non-stop pace; she is aided greatly by Shawn Sagady's projection designs and ESosa's flamboyant costumes. Always at the center of things is Millan as Juan Jose. The more he learns about the dark side of the American Dream, the less inclined he is to become a citizen. But in the end the principles of democracy and freedom still exert their pull on him, as they do on us.