Theater For The New City Presents THEY CAME TO THE CASTLE

Theater for the New City, Crystal Field, Executive Director, presents They Came to the Castle: Immigrants, a Tenor and Lola Montez, a new play by Barbara Kahn, directed by Robert Gonzales Jr. and Barbara Kahn. Featuring Robert Gonzales Jr, Vilma Hodo, Christopher Lowe, Lisa Monde, Crosbie Roper, Aristotle Stamat, Leila Stricker, Lera Vital.

They Came to the Castle: Immigrants, a Tenor and Lola Montez. March 19-29, Thursday - Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm; April 1-4, Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm. 155 1st Ave. (9th & 10th Sts.). Res/Info: 212-254-1109. Tkts: $15 general, seniors and students $12, TDF accepted. https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4514977

They Came to the Castle: Immigrants, a Tenor and Lola Montez is a historical play set in the mid- 19th century in a now landmarked building in Battery Park that was the entry point to the United States prior the facility on Ellis Island. Newly-arrived travelers share their reasons for immigrating and their hopes and dreams, finding love and success in a new land. An Irishman fleeing the potato famine; an Italian man who escaped from forced child labor in the sulphur mines of Sicily; the sole survivor of a pogrom (organized violence against Jews) in a Russian village; a woman who "always felt different" and ran from an arranged marriage; a Freeborn African American woman who works for the NYC Commission on Immigration. The building was briefly a prominent entertainment center. In a re-imagining of a night of entertainment at Castle Garden, the Italian tenor Lorenzo Salvi performs along with the infamous Lola Montez, dancer and courtesan, who recreates her notorious "Spider Dance."

BARBARA KAHN Theater for the New City has been the primary NYC home for Barbara's plays since 1994, with other productions in the U.S., France and Germany. She has directed in New York, Paris, and at The National Theatre in London. Among many awards: the Torch of Hope for achievement in non-profit theatre, following past recipients Terrence McNally, John Guare, August Wilson, Horton Foote and A.R. Gurney; an Acker Award for her work in downtown theater and the 2019 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award from the NY Innovative Theater Foundation.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY, co- founded in 1970 by Crystal Field, is a unique cultural institution that has earned a nationwide reputation for its dedication to nurturing established and emerging playwrights who experiment with new forms and presenting other experimental and developmental theaters with a very active program of community art services and festivals which continue to expand access to theater.

Funding has been made possible by the Puffin Foundation, the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation and individual donors