ALIEN: The Musical at Tennessee Performing Arts Center - Polk Theater

Beginning in the late 1800s, when Irish immigrants lived on average only six years after arriving in the new world, “ALIEN: The Musical” tells the story of the Dolan family during their initial years in New York. When the narrative continues to present-day California, their story collides with “Mexican” immigrants who work in the kitchen at “O’Neil’s Irish Pub and Restaurant.” An unexpected twist plunges Irish and Latinos into a conflict that makes us question what it means to be human, and what it means to love and create a hospitable world for those alienated by our ideals and need for security.

Audiences have called it “life-changing” and have left the theatre emotionally charged to make a better world; to make this place home. The musical features over a dozen original songs in four different musical styles (Irish, Folk, Latino and Pop).

Garner says of his work, “I wanted to explore the difficult issues related to race, immigration, labor, and discrimination, but not with a typical response. This story is my contribution to the discussion. Societies’ historical amnesia is the disease that causes us to repeat the mistakes of our past. Our failure to remember is our refusal to accept our vulnerable condition as human beings – that we’re all the same, and we all need a chance – to have life.”