How the video game Dot’s Home was adapted for the stage
How the video game Dot’s Home was adapted for the stage
This is another installment of “Skin in the Game,” a special project of “Marketplace Morning Report” that looks at what video games — a global industry bigger than movies and music combined — can tell us about economics, business, money, careers and equity.
Next up: the video game that came alive.
Reading comic book-style dialog balloons in a video game called Dot’s Home you see things like, “This is a golden opportunity! We’re paying above fair market value for distressed homes and revitalizing —”
“Do we look distressed to you? How can you ‘bring back’ a neighborhood that never went anywhere?”
In an early level, an aggressive salesman barges in, peddling a Cash-4-Keys real estate deal. The game, a collaboration of creatives and community activists, takes players through the history of housing discrimination in Detroit with lessons for all of America. And Dot’s Home the 2D video game has now gone 3D — a live stage performance with actors.
“Yeah, I’m a gamer as well, and this was just another fun opportunity,” said lead actor Jala Jackson in the lead-up to opening night. “This is literally my family’s direct story about how they came to Detroit.”
Christina Rosales is producer and co-creator of Dot’s Home. In the story, the character Dot has the magical power to travel back through the generations.
“She can travel through time using a key,” Rosales said. “So it takes her to the late ’50s and redlined Detroit. It takes her to the early ’90s in the midst of urban renewal. And then it takes her to post-foreclosure crisis Detroit.”
The game’s doing well, with more than half a million downloads just on phones and computers. But Rosales knew that video games like this are often played alone, and she wanted a “next level.”
“How do we make it come alive? How do we make it a collective experience? The idea of a theater piece just kept coming up,” she said.
With money from philanthropies that included the Ford Foundation, a plan took shape. The team realized a live audience would need something the game didn’t have: an emcee.
“The character of 4D is kind of this, like, Afro-futuristic game show host that has a way of talking to the audience that allows the audience to feel comfortable in making the decisions that they need to make,” said screenwriter Toni Cunningham, co-director of the show.
At one point, the decision is choosing whether Dot’s grandparents should sign on to a sketchy rent-to-own housing arrangement.
In the stage production, Dot’s grandfather says, “I just wish we could get a loan, but the banks won’t even let us in the door.”
“But I’m tired of renting, Carl!” Dot’s grandmother responds. “We need to put down roots, and this is the only place that will even take our money.”
The economic justice group Detroit Action is a partner in this production. One needle activists are trying to move is the overassessment of official property values, maximizing tax bills. Those who can’t pay the inflated taxes could have their homes sold out from under them.
“It’s still causing 1 in 10 homes to be overassessed,” said Joanna Velazquez, campaign manager for Detroit Action.
Her group is pushing the City Council to assess homes at proper values and generate refunds for homeowners.
After curtain call for the show, community members are brought into the conversation.
“What stuck out to me was the choice of — to stay or go,” one audience member said. “To sell or not sell. I’m living with that now.”
“Dot’s Home Live” is an argument that activism can improve these choices.
“You mean I can change things? I have the power to change my life?” the character Dot asks during the performance.
“You always did. Are you ready to play again?” the character 4D responds.
“Dot’s Home Live” had two performances in Detroit. It’s on track to come to Chicago later this year. And Dot’s Home the video game is free to download on Steam or mobile platforms.
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