Family Album Comes to Life in NJT's THE IMMIGRANT

Actor Mark Harelik wanted to pay tribute to his Russian immigrant grandparents Haskell and Leah. So, based on his grandmother's photo album, he wrote a play, "The Immigrant" subtitled, "A Hamilton County Album. It is the true story about two Eastern European Jews who immigrated to a small Texas town in 1909. Harelik's story is about two out of the thousands of Jewish immigrants who ended up in the American Southwest through an immigrant resettlement program known as the Galveston Movement designed to divert Jews fleeing the pogroms of Russia and eastern Europe away from congested communities of the Atlantic coast to the interior of the United States. This was perceived as a way of preventing an anticipated wave of anti-Semitism on the Eastern seaboard, which might lead to immigration restrictions. Approximately 10,000 Jews were diverted to the port at Galveston between 1907 and 1914.

Harelik's play about his grandparents' life in Texas begins in 1909 when a young man arrives at the home of a middle-aged couple, Milton and Ima Perry. He only has enough English to offer the bananas he's selling from a wheelbarrow at one cent each: "Pananasapennyapiece!" The production uses actual photographs from Jewish life in Russia, the town of Hamilton, Texas, and the Harelik family album as a backdrop. 

On one level, this is a play about coming to America and pursuing the American dream. But it is also the story of a long, initially unlikely friendship colored by love and conflict in a world where bigotry, pogroms and genocide know no borders. In the friendship between the Hareliks and Perrys we find significant acts of generosity on both sides, as well as the occasional missteps, prejudices, and misunderstandings that tend to accompany such relationships. It is not your stereotypical "Ellis Island to ethnic neighborhood" narrative. It is a story of a struggle for personal survival paralleled by the struggle to maintain religious tradition in a land of assimilation, Most of all, it is a story of faith and hope.

In addition to Director Edward Coffield, the production features the talents of Gary Wayne Barker*, Peggy Billo*, Michelle Hand and Bob Thibaut. Thibaut was the title character in the season opener, "My Name is Asher Lev." The production runs from June 1 - 19 with performances on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 2:00 PM with additional 7:30 PM performances on Sunday, June 5 and June 12. Tickets are available online through the NJT website, www.newjewishtheatre.org or by calling the box office at 314-442-3283.