The Immigrant
Play Description
Rural Central Texas, 1909. A young Russian-Jewish immigrant, newly arrived in America through the port of Galveston, pulls his banana cart into the hamlet of Hamilton. Fleeing the vicious pogroms of his homeland, he has sought refuge in the land of the free. Able to speak only Yiddish, alone in the midst of a staunchly Christian community, he begs for shelter. Over the next 30 years, he makes a home and raises a family in this tiny town. THE IMMIGRANT is the story of a young Russian-Jewish couple and the local couple that take them in, as religion meets religion, culture meets culture, fear meets fear, and love meets love. This is the true story of Haskell Harelik, “the Immigrant.”
Production Info
Cast: 4 total (2 female, 2 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
- Productions
Press Quotes
“THE IMMIGRANT received a well-deserved standing ovation on opening night at the Mark Taper Forum … superb.” —Pros, Variety
“A lovely and loving evening of theater. Harelik’s story is tender and touching” —Ed Kaufman, Hollywood Reporter
“A funny new play … The scenes evoke the rural era with the firm-handed clarity of a Jewish Horton Foote … they glow.” —Linda Winer, USA Today
Author(s)
Mark HarelikMark Harelik has appeared in THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA and THE BEARD OF AVON at the Goodman Theatre. Off-Broadway, he has appeared in THE BEARD OF AVON and OLD MONEY. He also appeared in the national tour of THE HEIDI CHRONICLES. Regionally, he has appeared in numerous plays at The Mark Taper Forum, the American Conservatory Theater, Seattle Repertory Theatre, the Intiman Theatre, the Denver Center Theater Company, the La Jolla Playhouse, The Globe Theatres and South Coast Repertory Theater. Film credits include Election, Eulogy, Jurassic Park III, A Gnome Gnamed Gnorm, and Barbarians at the Gate. Television credits include Seinfeld, Star Trek Voyager, Boy Meets World, The Practice, Picket Fences, Cheers, The Single Guy, Players, Angel, Diagnosis Murder, and the television movies War Stories, The Partridge Family, Hefner Unauthorized and My Brother's Keeper. He is the author of THE IMMIGRANT, THE LEGACY, and HANK WILLIAMS — LOST HIGHWAY. Mr. Harelik is a Fox Foundation Fellow.
Randal MylerRandal Myler has received two Tony Award nominations (Best Musical/Best Book of a Musical) and a Drama Desk nomination (Best Musical Revue) for IT AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT THE BLUES, which ran at both Lincoln Center and Broadway's Ambassador Theatre. LOVE, JANIS, Mr. Myler's musical biography of Janis Joplin, reached 700 performances at Eric Nederlander's Village Theater, where he also staged DREAM A LITTLE DREAM: THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS MUSICAL with Denny Dougherty. LOST HIGHWAY received its premiere at the Tony Award – winning Denver Center Theatre Company and then moved to the Mark Taper Forum, the Old Globe, and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Regional directorial credits: Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, New Victory, B.B. King's in NYC, Geffen Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, Royal George, Virginia Stage, Missouri Rep, Meadow Brook and Bay Street. A 17-season veteran of the Denver Center, Mr. Myler's recent projects include TOUCH THE NAMES: LETTERS TO THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL, John Fante's 1933, the musical version of THE IMMIGRANT and the critically acclaimed Cuban-American play UNION CITY, NEW JERSEY, WHERE ARE YOU?, starring Rosie Perez. His latest work (co-authored with Dan Wheetman) is FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN: THE MUSIC OF THE COAL MINES, and he recently directed Betty Buckley in the new musical, DINER STORIES at the Denver Center.
Book Information
| Publisher | BPPI |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2/1/2003 |
| Pages | 100 |
| ISBN | 9780881456769 |
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
Originally produced by the Denver Center Theater
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com
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Rural Central Texas, 1962. Dave, still lives in the old family home that his father built. The family is still the only Jewish family in this isolated country town. As his son Nathan faces the (to him) bizarre prospect of becoming Bar Mitzvah, his wife Rachel faces an even greater crisis of faith. As Dave encounters the remoteness of his community, and the even further distance from the faith of his father, his entire family faces the legacy left behind by their immigrant forebears: What do the Jews believe? This is a fictionalized account of the next generation of the family introduced in THE IMMIGRANT, and the second play in Mark Harelik’s Texas saga of one Jewish-American family.
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