'The Detention Lottery,' an Updated Play, Puts the Audience Inside Immigration Drama

A revival of The Detention Lottery, a play by South Seattle playwright Margaret O'Donnell, will be staged on Sunday, Aug. 24, at 3 p.m. at St. Clement's Episcopal Church in Mount Baker. The play, recently updated, seeks to create understanding about what happens to immigrant detainees in the courts through immersive theater and audience participation.

Staging this relaunch at St. Clement's is no accident. This year, a church member's neighbor was taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the middle of the night and immediately deported to Mexico. The next night, ICE came back for his spouse and her 2-month-old baby, but they escaped deportation by not opening the door. The church has been helping the mother with bills since her spouse was the wage earner. Funds raised by this production will help the church provide immediate help to immigrants.

Staging the production in Seattle's historically Black Episcopal church adds another layer of significance to the play, in a sanctuary lined with contemporary icons of Black leaders, including one of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holding his inmate number from arrest during the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. While neighborhood demographics have changed, the church still honors its 134-year history of welcome.

The play opens with the sounds of ICE agents declaring, "You are under arrest" to unsuspecting detainees. Clerks and guards make clear you are in a federal immigration detention center courtroom. Detainees confer with lawyers and appear before the judge. The stories are drawn from real cases known to immigration attorneys involved in the production. As the promotion flyer states: "Seven detainees. No questions answered. Decisions rendered. Lives changed forever. All in less than 60 minutes."

Most people will not see the inner workings of an immigration courtroom, especially at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. O'Donnell, a retired immigration lawyer, thought it important for the public to know what happens to people in those courtrooms.

"I felt the need to create something in 2011, when there was a real chance of bipartisan immigration reform," she said. O'Donnell created a game where people could walk into a community forum, be assigned roles or be randomly detained, and learn how the immigration system worked. The goal was to build empathy and activism for immigration reform.

The game was turned into a play in 2017, as anti-immigrant rhetoric heated up during the first Trump administration. Between 2018 and 2023, the play was performed 21 times, in faith communities and community centers, to benefit immigrant justice organizations. At the end of each performance, audience members were provided a list of things they could do in the community to help immigrants. That practice will continue with upcoming performances.

O'Donnell brushed off the old script and updated it with stories from 2025 under the new Trump administration. She says the changes reflect the randomness, the cruelty, and the increased activity of ICE in communities. 

"It's wild, it's evil," she said. "There are more detainees than we've ever had. People for no reason are being arrested. People already in the system with pending asylum cases, with Temporary Protected Status, or no criminal record are being detained, with the sole goal of getting the numbers up." 

In our region, they are taken to the Northwest Detention Center, run by the for-profit GEO Group; it's the fourth-largest detention facility in the country and one with a history of violations. 

With ICE detentions at an all-time high, many people know someone impacted or may witness a detention that leads to deportation. New data released last week by the University of California Deportation Data Project showed that detention of immigrants spiked in June, with 291 arrested in Washington and 30,402 arrested nationwide, and they slightly decreased in July. The Northwest Detention Center is at or near its 1,575-bed capacity. 

O'Donnell pointed to some new anti-immigrant laws and practices that have bumped up these numbers in 2025: Congress passed a law in January that if someone was ever arrested for theft, it's a deportable offense, even if charges were never filed and the person was not proven guilty. Any person who is not a U.S. citizen, including those with student, au pair, and visitor visas, with less than two years in the country can be arrested any time for any reason — or no reason — by ICE. 

People have an option to file for asylum to prove their lives are endangered if deported to their home country. But with approximately 5 million asylum applicants in this country waiting nearly five years for a hearing, only about 14% are granted asylum.

Attendees at The Detention Lottery performances will witness an unfolding drama carried out by volunteers, not professional actors; some work as immigration lawyers or advocates in their daily life. Audience members may even become part of the drama and be tapped on the shoulder by someone posing as an ICE agent, "detained" with others on stage, and face the judge with a script of their own.

O'Donnell was inspired by Brazilian Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed and wants the audience to not simply witness, but experience the chaos of detention. Boal emphasized the importance of the dual role of spectator and actor, and sought to prevent the isolation of the audience in order to restore their capacity for action. 

Amy Youngblood, director for this reboot of The Detention Lottery, knows something about participatory theater. She previously participated with Public Works at Seattle Repertory Theatre and helped lead scripted improvisation for community fundraisers. 

Youngblood values inclusion and participation that creates a welcoming space for all. "This kind of participatory theater is dedicated to building community as much as it's about creating theater," she said.

"I'm an activist and advocate at heart. Reading this play and feeling the veracity of it helped me respond to the question of 'What can I do?'" in the face of unjust deportations, she said. "It's a gift from heaven to help put this together." 

Youngblood hopes people are so taken by the play, they won't even realize when it's over. "They'll stay around for the talkback, take all the information from the table, and talk about it the next day. We want to spread the word."

The updated The Detention Lottery debuts on Sunday, Aug. 24, at 3 p.m. at St. Clement's Episcopal Church, 1501 32nd Ave.; $20 suggested donation, no one turned away. 

The play will also be performed at other times through the fall:

• Sept. 7, 4 p.m., at First United Methodist Church, Seattle, benefiting the Church Council of Greater Seattle's Fondo de Grupo

• Oct. 9, 7 p.m., at First Congregational Church, Bellevue

• Oct. 19, 4 p.m., at Westside Unitarian Universalist, Seattle

• Nov. 2, time TBA, at Wallingford United Methodist Church, Seattle

Anyone interested in bringing the production to their church, community, or educational organization can contact Margaret O'Donnell at Info@ODonnellPlaywright.com.