Inside a Polish LARP Where People Role-Play as Americans in a Trailer Park

A few months ago, I saw a reel on Instagram where a group of people in Poland were cosplaying Americans. We're in [__] America. More specifically, they were role-playing an American community living in a trailer park in Ohio celebrating the 4th of July. Along with the millions of people who saw that reel, I found the idea of this LARP fascinating and immediately knew I had to attend it and film it. So, I got in touch with LARP Ventures, the company that organizes it, and begged them to let me

come. To my shock and delight, they agreed. So, what you're about to watch here is a group of people gathered in a small trailer park in Poland pretending for 2 days to be Americans living out their American dream and dramas in Pristine Park, Ohio. I'm just about to enter Pristine Park, Ohio, Poland for the first time. I'm so excited and a little bit nervous. I'm really curious what this is going to be like. Just to explain the terminology, the acronym LARP stands for live action role-playing. It's basically a game where the players take on fictional characters and play out a very loose scenario over a period of time. It's a little bit like improv.

The thing that I find really, really impressive about this setup is that it's an actual like trailer park, like an actual caravan park, and it looks so realistic. The game takes place in an actual trailer park in the woods of Poland. Except, this is actually a holiday park for families on vacation. But, for a couple of days, it stops being Ilki, Poland and becomes Pristine Park, Ohio. And just as I walked in, the local community was throwing a pretty classic event. Definitely made me feel like we were in a small American town. Right now, on the program, we've got a all-American pie contest. So, welcome everyone to the first pristine pie baking competition.

Honestly, the lady who's in charge, the one that's hosting the pie contest, she is just so incredibly convincing. She's so in the role. She's really stereotypical, like perfect Stepford Wife, who's just out there to choose the best pie of the neighborhood, and she's damn serious about it. Every single person here is so deeply immersed in this world. This world of like perfect Americano, and yeah, it's really cool to see. Results will be announced in probably about half an hour. We might try While we wait for the results to be announced, I want to show you the hub of the community, Joyce's Diner.

I don't know if trailer parks in the US have diners attached to them, but we're not here to perfectly replicate the American way of life, right? Still, that Taste of Freedom beer actually sounds pretty good. The organizers just gave me some fake US dollars, because apparently this is what you pay with at the diner. So, I am allowed to get something at the bar. I don't know what I'm going to I don't know what I can get with this. What can $3 get me out here? Three coffees, or one of you, and uh Taste of Freedom.

Taste of Freedom? Oh my gosh, yeah. I'm going to get a Taste of Freedom, of course. After the game, I got to talk to some of the players. So, I want to show you little vignettes of what they had to say about their characters as we go through this experience. First off, the owner of the diner, Joyce. So, I played a character named Joyce, who owns the beautiful diner. She unfortunately had um cancer. She's a cancer survivor, so she's been through a lot, chemotherapy, all that burden that comes with um you know, putting a lot of pressure on your family to keep everything going that you left behind, because you're stuck in the hospital. And obviously, a hospital in America, getting the treatment that you need is not cheap.

So, once she came back here home trying to regain her life, she had to deal with the fact that her family had to give up all of their dreams to keep her dream alive, which is the diner. This was my first insight into the very emotional, very human stories that played out in this game. And the next uh attraction on tonight's program is the beauty pageant. But first, we need to find out who won the pie contest. Beth, congratulations. This cake was made with a lot of love from the recipe of my dear mother. So, I'm so happy that you enjoyed it with me.

The next competition of the night, the beauty pageant. Please welcome My character was Trudy Lawford, who is an 18-year-old aspiring rapper uh trying really hard to make it out of where she's come from and where her family is uh and just wanting to have more for her life. [screaming]

The format of the beauty pageant, it's pretty classic. So, you've got four judges and all of them are like celebrities of some kind of like Western celebrities and singers and rock stars and the girls are there to show off all of their assets. They're dancing, they're cat walking, they're answering questions. It's It's hard to know who is going to win. All right, I was playing Crystal Lowe which is obviously not her real name. She was Maya Black who escaped from Alaska and ended up being one of the sex workers in the trailer park.

Pretty controversial figure. Yeah, but also incredibly interesting to play. She was very well written. There was so much depth to her that I really enjoyed exploring. I think the American dream is that we get to dream. It's not about dreams coming true necessarily. It's about the hope that one day they can. No matter where you start no matter where life might lead you get to hope that one day it'll BE BETTER. YEAH! HALLELUJAH, PRAISE GOD.

HAVE YOU SEEN THAT? I KNOW. I heard you say you Shut up, Chad. You don't have any proof. Okay, first come with me. It's Let's not make a scene. She discovered the cross being upside down. What is [__] happening now? I don't know what's happening now. Like he's trying to beat me for something I didn't know that he haven't Like he doesn't have any proof that I did it but he thinks I did it. We're in [__] America. Come on. This is the country of our Lord and you think you can just do that. not a play. This is not a play.

She's a child. We can talk with her. Explain that to her but not hit her in THE FACE. NO, BUT THE LORD APPARENTLY is saying that we can We don't have to We don't need to shout. I apologize Would you pipe down, woman? Okay. Don't Don't talk to people like this. Don't talk to people We are brothers and sisters. I'm just getting worked up. I'm so sorry. I know. The players get into their roles so deeply that it's very easy to become convinced that what you're seeing right now is real life. There's a lot of really interesting characters here. The

guy walking around with a bag of trash is an actual street sweep. His job is to pick up the trash that is thrown around here and clean up after everyone. So, basically everybody's encouraged to throw their trash around and he then goes ahead and picks it up. Uh well, I was playing Roger White. He's a very honest soul with a dark past. Um he's the dustman of the trailer park. So, a very humble job. He's basically doing that because he feels like he needs to redeem himself because he had a drunk driving accident when he was young and killed a woman.

Um ever since then he's been clean and working every day not to relapse. We're still waiting for the results of the beauty pageant to be announced. We don't know who the beauty queen will be just yet. But one thing that I can tell you is that right after the beauty pageant there is a boxing match. Okay, the results of the beauty pageant are in. The winner and the queen is one and ONLY HO. LET'S LET'S ALL CLAP. NOW, WEAR THIS CROWN WITH PRIDE.

MY ONLY COMPLAINT IS THAT in America, that would have been a pickup truck. Down next to the ring to see our participants who will be fighting honorably today on 4th of July, our very important day for every American. [__] yeah! Please, give a hearty welcome to the one and only, Reese Witherspoon. Proud father and husband, one and only, Marcus Vanderball Valentine. So, I played Marcus Valentine, um, a former boxing uh, champion, now a boxing coach, a war veteran, a father of two lovely children, and a husband to a beautiful wife.

Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly gleaming? Oh, what a piece of work is man. Maybe not very strong, but at least he reads. Well, I'm not going to stick around until the end of the boxing match cuz I've got uh dog parenting duties to attend to, but I will be back tomorrow because tomorrow I would really love to learn a little bit more about what makes people take part in an event like this. What is the inherent motivation for people to be here and pretend that they're Americans celebrating the 4th of July

in a trailer park in Ohio. So, yeah, that's what we'll do tomorrow. But, [snorts] for now, I need to get back to Phil. Hello. Hi. Who's a good boy? Were you waiting for me? Were you sleeping? Were you taking a little nap? You're a good boy. Welcome back to Pristine Park, Ohio, Poland. We're back at uh at the lab. This is day two. Yesterday I showed you guys a bunch of the you know, really fun events that took place here, the beauty pageant, the American pie competition, the uh boxing match. But, today I want to go a little bit deeper. Today

I'm hoping that I can chat to some of the participants and see why exactly they're here. You know, what is it about America, specifically, that made them want to be here and cos play Americans? Like, that's just That's pretty unusual, you know? I've never heard of anyone cos playing Polish people or French people, you know? This is pretty special. So, I'm hoping that I'll be able to chat to some of them, and yeah, just get a slightly deeper, more meaningful perspective.

There's a little group of people who are about to start roasting marshmallows, so let's go and see what that looks like. Okay, so my character was Bud Lawford. He was a poacher and a deadbeat dad. He's out of work, down on his luck, and very angry. What's going on there? There's a fight. I'm [__] rich, and I want to order the lobster Oh, did you now? No, it was lobster. Can I have the salad first?

Well, did he sign a pre-nup? I'll see you in court, [__] Yeah, we'll see about that. Yeah. Half of everything is mine. No. Yeah, it is. No, it's not. I'm going to take my daughters. Get them those glasses tonight. [__] idiot. You're [__] nuts. I sacrificed everything for my family. You sacrificed everything for Donald [__] Trump. I did not. I JUST YOU LOST YOUR [__] JOB FOR HIM.

DEAL WITH IT, CONNIE. Half of it is mine. What was it like playing that character for you? It was a huge challenge, because obviously I'm a very different kind of person, but I was really looking forward to it as well, cuz it really gives you permission to misbehave, and just be an awful person. Like, maybe sometimes we get like that in real life, but you try not to. I want to kill myself when I look at you. Well, GO ON THEN. WHO'S stopping you? You are such a joke. You're such a [__] joke.

I loved you, Connie. I actually LOVED YOU. DON'T START AGAIN. WELL, I DID. DON'T What are you all looking at, huh? Hey, I was [__] with her. I wasn't doing anything but you. Oh, it's fine. [__] OFF. Every character in the game has a story, right? And many characters are interconnected. They're family, they're partners, they're friends or enemies. And so spontaneously during the course of the game of the role play situations will come up and flare up where, you know, they're interacting where they have, you know, crisis, they have conflicts. And what happened just here is that a married couple well, she found out that he was cheating on her. So, she

got mad. She flipped out and then he flipped out. Basically, like this story line in the story line, they are like a toxic They're like in a toxic relationship. They're kind of mutually abusive. And that was kind of the result of their situation escalating. So, it's really interesting cuz it feels to me like, you know, the people who are taking part in that interaction were really, really in it. It felt very real. You cannot stop her from divorcing me. I can't. think you are? I tried, but she's afraid of you, so she wants doctor. She's not afraid of Wait a minute.

Yes, she is. She [__] hits me. I think there is some element of the fictionalized idea of it that excites people as a fiction and very much knowing that it is removed from reality. And when we think about the actual reality of it, we're very conscious of we don't want to actually offend real people cuz it's about poverty and being you know, disenfranchised, being left behind. Like even the racist and the MAGA characters, they all have character sheets where that's written into the character sheet where they have a reason for why they have these negative stances. Right. And that doesn't make it's not an excuse, but it explains it. Like it kind of makes you understand it.

Yeah. And there is an element of course to like fictional Americana, like American Gods, the American road trip, it's like you know, freedom, whatever. I think none of us believe that is a reality, but it is fun to play. Well, you may remember this space from yesterday. This is the church, but since it's been defaced. So, this is all part of the game, right? At night, some of the local like rebellious kids came in and they just graffiti'd obscenities all over the tent, all over the church, sorry. Um so, that's kind of what the situation is right now. I hear that the priest is not very happy about this.

He is pretty upset, actually. And he's just about to speak to the people. So, let's go and see what he says. Crime is right in front of us. We all know it. The devil is strong, but you know, thank you. You know who is stronger? It's God, of course. Jesus is stronger than any man. Jesus is stronger than any devil. His love will always prevail. So, let us sing. Let's turn our hearts and voices toward God, so he can hear us praying him from the bottom of our heart. Come on. Show me your dedication to the world's love. Glory, glory, hallelujah.

truth is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. Uh so I was playing Lester. Uh 4th of July, he's one of the Red Caps, which is the gang. Uh so a little bit of a troublemaker. Yeah. Did you guys Were you the ones that wrecked the church? All the Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I was um that was mostly young kids, but I was part of that. I kind of encouraged it.

Uh I had them write a specific message to encourage one of my pals from the gang. So, yeah. I witnessed the thing go down. Uh does the boy need to go to the hospital, too? If he wants to have his leg in full function, yeah, he should. Apparently, there was a shooting, there was a fight. I'm not even keeping track anymore, but we're headed over to the scene of the crime with the paramedics to see what is actually going on. Give him some water. Can you afford taking down the road to the hospital? Or are you Or do you want to go with your private car like your friend did?

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a second. Let me ask you this joke. Are you insured? Not now. So will you help him or not? How? We cannot help him here. If the nurse said he needs to go to the hospital, we can take him to the hospital if he's paying for that. Or he can take a private car. Do you take a boat check? It's your decision how you want I'm going to drive him to the hospital. Ain't no one got the money for the ambulance. Thank you for our service. Okay. You Yeah. You know what? I'm I'm not going to pay 10,000 just to ride in the wee-woo wagon.

Is Cal still in there? We'll come to you. Just lay down, please. This is my first time playing like a serious character or like a very like outward character, yeah, which I thought it difficult for me because usually in real life I'm very like meek and quiet and I don't really say my opinion and Lester's like very the opposite of that. So I was it was tough but it was a lot of fun. Uh-huh. Lay down you idiot. [__] off. You know the great American dream is something that even we as Europeans think of and I think it can hit many of us. We grew up watching American movies and we do get affected by that perspective of what it could be

like to live that dream. And even though, you know, 4th of July is not necessarily about that, you know, glorious side of America, it's unfortunately about this sadder, more realistic part of America. I know she's stable. Um Joyce, my wife, had cancer and uh we are quite struggling here like other families too. Um but yeah, the cancer is back. Yeah. And um we don't have a lot of money for the treatment and um that was pretty intense. Yeah.

Even though we're all very much aware this is fictional, it's the same way as when we watch movies or read books, we have this capability to care for characters that we know they don't exist. So when you like step into somebody else's shoes and very often it's somebody that's very different to your true self. It can really hit you how many ways people can struggle in life that you never even thought about, and it just moves you. Stupid boy. You know, I wanted to put myself in that person's shoes. Wanted to put myself in there, feel like what that's like, you know?

Mhm. What is that like? How would that feel for me? Because like in real life, I have a pretty comfortable life, but I think it's sometimes nice to also think about the people that don't have a comfortable life. Like what is that like? It kind of gives you like a broader perspective on the world. Just a body now. The game is slowly coming to an end, and what happens at the end of the game is that a lot of the like interpersonal conflicts between players, different stories kind of come to fruition, or escalate, or come to some kind of crescendo. Anyway, things really kind of pick up towards the very end, and there's a lot of drama, and just me being an observer of the drama, right? I'm behind the camera. I'm

just watching people. I'm not interacting with them. Even that alone has made me so emotional, like so emotionally invested. When I see people crying, and really feeling those emotions, even though we all know we're just role-playing, it doesn't matter. When I see them crying, real tears, I start crying. Real tears. I got teary-eyed like three times already. Um these emotions are real. The relationships that they're based on, the events that they're based on, are not real, but the emotions themselves are very, very, very real, and it's hard to explain. But if anything, it just goes to show how incredibly contagious human emotions are.

Again, we all are aware that this is all make-believe. This is all fake. It doesn't matter. Our bodies, our physiologies still react to those emotions that we've created. And just again, goes to show how powerful emotions are. And how infectious they are between humans. And so, the 4th of July LARP slowly came to an end. Finally, everyone could shed their characters, the roles they'd been playing for 2 days. And so, this was the moment I could finally start interacting with people. You might be curious as to who these players are in real life. First off, I was shocked that so many different nationalities had descended on a small village in Poland for this event. Where did you come from for this game?

Uh Germany, Leipzig in Eastern Germany. Uh I came from Denmark. I recently moved to Poland from the United States. Uh Switzerland. Oh, nice. I'm from Austria, Vienna. I am from North Carolina in the United States. Okay. And so, traveled here for the game. I'd heard about it and really wanted to kind of see how everything happened. So, you traveled all the way from the United States as an American to play an American? Yes, and we have so many of those here. There are several Americans who traveled from America to be here. So, what attracted you to this specific game?

Uh it would be something fun to do, and something memorable. I think it's it's a very interesting and a very well-made game. I like the aesthetics a bit. Um I also played it before, so I knew it was good. As a German, um and Germans avoid their flag like the plague, this was a lot. Um but I also think it really it immediately tore you into a very different world. Mhm. And that was helpful to get into the character, and weirdly it grew on me.

No, like felt like home. You know, the story I think that everyone told together is truly the beautiful part, like the roller coaster of kind of hope and redemption and like trying to find commonality and love people that you disagree with, right? Like it all just feels very familiar. Um, as someone living in the US right now, you know, those are struggles that we have a lot of times with our families and the political environment. Does the American dream still exist? I can do both because for me personally, I don't think it ever existed. I would say that no, unfortunately. Because um, my feeling is that it's kind of capitalistic propaganda. That's that's a feeling I'm getting when

I hear about it. I would like to believe that. I'm not sure I do. But I guess as long as there is people who believe that, they can bring it back. I hope for some of them um, are. For me I never really existed, I think. Do you believe that the American dream is still alive? Yes. Uh, yeah. People have this idea and even if they know it's not going to work out, it's a dream, it's a fantasy. So it's hard to kill.

I mean, that's a tough question. To me, the American dream means hope in a sense, you know? And in that sense, yeah, I think it's still alive. Uh, when you come from tough situations, hope is like the most important thing you can have cuz if you don't have hope, then Yeah. what do you have really? So I Yeah, in that sense, I think it's still alive. Do you believe that the American dream is still alive? Nah, babes. No. No, I don't think so. But also, what is the American dream to begin with?

Don't we all have a dream? I mean Well, this has been a fascinating event to witness and to be an observer of. When I first heard about this lab, I guess I just expected it to be like people cosplaying Americans. I just kind of simplified it that way in my mind and I almost like aestheticized it, if that's a word. I thought that people would just kind of came here for the aesthetic, to role-play this fantasy of being an American person. That's not what this was, I don't think. Having talked to a number of the players after the game, it seems to me like a lot of them for a lot of them the motivation actually lies in a very different place, in a much better place, I think.

A place of empathy. A lot of people talked about wanting to spend, you know, a few moments in another person's shoes, to walk a mile in another person's shoes and to feel what it could be like to live life in a very different gear and experience it from a different perspective. And that is such a beautiful thing because I feel like with games like this, you really expand your capacity for empathy, for shifting perspectives, for building your ability to be a compassionate human being and I believe that's something that we all build. And I saw that in everyone tonight. Yeah, honestly, I'm just getting really emotional.

God. I didn't expect to get this emotional about a lot. But it's kind of beautiful. Bye-bye, Miss American Pie. Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry. Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing, "This will be the day that I die."