At 6:30 p.m. in the Lewis Center for the Arts, Dominic Dominguez ’25 is alone in Drapkin Studio preparing for a tech rehearsal for his debut play, a groundbreaking display of audience interaction and a reflection of the ethics of choice. I sit down with him to chat, as his actors and crew slowly file in.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.
The Daily Princetonian: Could you talk to us a little bit about the show? How did the concept for it come about?
Dominic Dominguez: Sure. This show was created because I wanted to create a piece of interactive theater where the audience is at the center of it. I learned about “Theater of the Oppressed,” which is created by Augusto Boal, who’s a Brazilian theater-maker. One of the main principles of it is breaking down the barrier between spectator and performer and showing that the audience has the power to make change and take action. So, I wanted to create something where the audience is at the center, where they’re one of the players and where the actions that they take within the show have real consequences. A lot of the style of the show is based on “choose your own adventure” video games. It’s really inspired by the “Fallout” series — I don’t know if you’re familiar with that. It takes place in the post-apocalypse and an authoritarian commune.
DP: So why the name Safe Harbor?
DD: There’s a lot of ethical choices in it, and they stem from the idea that we make our ethical decisions based on social pressures and authoritarian pressures around us. There’s a balance between what we really believe, what we say our values are, and what happens when those values are conflated with people telling you to do something different, especially an authority figure telling you to do something different. The basic premise of the show is that the world is destroyed by nuclear bombs, and then the audience — those who want to participate — move to a commune called Safe Harbor. The commune has a bunch of strict rules that they have to follow that are all based around the logic of “these new rules are necessary to survive.” But you have the choice of whether or not you want to actually follow them. So, Safe Harbor is just a kind of — I love Orwellian language — victory cigarettes. Naming this thing so that it appears as one thing, even if it’s another. Safe Harbor sounds like it has the word “safe” in it. But is it?
DP: Is this your first show that you’ve directed?
DD: Yeah.
DP: Is this your first show that you’ve written?
DD: Yes, it’s also my first show that I’ve written.
DP: Oh wow, double debut.
DD: Yeah.
DP: What are you really hoping to tell the audience with the show?
DD: I think that the ideas that I had for it are much more ambitious than what’s going to be accomplished. I’ve done a lot over this past year — I spent a year developing a show about what impact art can have in an hour and a half. Honestly, we consume so much art and media and so much just goes in one ear and out the other, and I try to think of what things have really changed my trajectory. I think it’s unlikely that, for most people, it will. I just want people to reflect more on those pressures that really drive their moral decision making. We think about people when people like to think about ethics, right? It’s all in this very hypothetical thing. There aren’t those emotional pressures that come, right? You aren’t in that real situation, right? You think about the “trolley problem,” and you’re like, “Oh, logically, I would kill one person to save five.” It’s easy to think of that when you’re in a room talking to somebody, but it’s hard to really understand how you would act ethically when those pressures exist. Part of this is putting people in those kinds of split-second decisions and getting to simulate, how would I — how do I — respond to real ethical decisions? Then, hopefully, people reflect on that later and also realize that a lot of the power they have as an individual is to speak up against things that they don’t believe in.
DP: How will audiences be able to interact in the story?
DD: It depends on the scene. In some scenes, there isn’t really interaction. In every single scene, the audience is there, right? They are a part of the story. If there’s a speech happening, that person is directing that speech to the audience — they exist. But a lot of how the audience will participate is that there’s a scene where jobs are handed out and then those jobs will dictate what role they have in the show. For example, there’s a scene that takes place in a hospital, and if you were given a role in medical services, then you will be the person in that scene, and the other audience members will cease to exist for a moment, while you act in it.
DP: Audience members really will have a sense of autonomy.
DD: Yes.
DP: That’s very interesting. Are you aware of any shows that have done that before?
DD: There’s probably a lot of experimental shows out there that are very small and not well-known. As I’ve talked more and more about this project, going on Google I can’t really find stuff. There’s “Bandersnatch,” which is this Netflix movie that came out where you can make choices, but it’s really rare. However, as I’ve talked to people more, they’re like, “Oh, I saw this student production that did.” So they probably exist — but just aren’t publicized. Yet again, a lot of my inspiration is based off of video games instead of theater. And how do video games operate, like “Detroit Becomes Human,” “Fallout: New Vegas,” “Red Dead Redemption,” “GTA?”
DP: I know the show’s opening in a couple of days, but do you have any professional plans for this? Any vision of this becoming something larger than a student production?
DD: That would be awesome. If you read this article and you want to, please get in touch with me.
Luke Grippo is a contributing writer for The Prospect. He is from South Jersey, and loves theater and music. He is also a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Read More
New Humanities Institute explores outreach to community colleges, public schools
Luke GrippoTwo months after the Steering Committee met for the first time, members discuss their optimism for the Initiative, including hopes to bring the humanities outside of Princeton.
Two months after the Steering Committee met for the first time, members discuss their optimism for the Initiative, including hopes to bring the humanities outside of Princeton.
SPIA continues domestic, international trips among some Trump administration concerns
Sena Chang and Luke GrippoTrips in the School of Public and International Affairs are continuing despite concerns that the Trump administration may impact international and domestic trips.
Trips in the School of Public and International Affairs are continuing despite concerns that the Trump administration may impact international and domestic trips.
“We truly can get there one day”: A cancer lab slowly makes progress
Aanya KaseraYibin Kang, a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology, discussed new breast cancer research in his lab.
Yibin Kang, a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology, discussed new breast cancer research in his lab.
