ArtRage Gallery will present a staged reading of  American Dreams: Immigration Stories, a collection of stories told from the perspective of immigrants living in the United States, as a fundraiser for both ArtRage and the Friends of Farmworkers House.

The play, written by award-winning director and playwright Linda Britt and directed here by Carmen Viviano-Crafts, will feature local actors and activists; Aly Wane, Karin Franklin-King, Gerard Moses, Mary Slechta, Daryl Acevedo, Lilli Komurek, and introducing Kailana Rowser.

Britt wrote the play in response to public attitudes surrounding immigration, and took inspiration from current events, such as the travel ban and the expiration of DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy. It represents people from multiple countries across generations. “This play was sparked by the news we see every day, and the rhetoric that’s coming out about there being ‘bad’ immigrants,” Britt says.

The characters in Britt’s stories present mixed viewpoints on living in America. Some did not actually want to be here, such as a 53-year-old homesick Bosnian woman whose daughter lived in the United States and a 22-year-old Iranian student who was trapped in the U.S. after her visa expired. Others worked hard to make a living here and wished to pursue a better life, such as a gay man from Egypt escaping persecution and a young South American woman whose parents were deported after living in the U.S. legally for more than 20 years.

Britt’s aim was to get the audience to look at immigrants with empathy and to put themselves in the shoes of others. “I wanted people to think about that question, ‘What would you do if you were me?’ ”

$10 Suggested Donation at the door.