Immigrants' tales come alive in museum's stage production Tuesday, October 5, 1999
By CHARLES YOO
Staff Writer
An aspiring actress, Brigid Herold relished her days in London, hustling in the backstage of the Royal Shakespeare Company and changing costumes for performers Kenneth Branagh and Alan Rickman.
After six years overseas, the Wyoming native landed a receptionist job at a liquidation company in Long Island. She photocopied, answered the phone, and painfully watched the clock tick.
Her passion for theater kept Herold auditioning for roles, sending out her photograph, and flipping through newspapers, until she came across an unusual ad five years ago.
Wanted: actors/park rangers.
The Ellis Island Immigration Museum sought players for a theater production about the countless immigrant sagas that unfolded on the island decades ago. The applicants were required to act as well as perform park ranger duties for a weekly salary of $400, recalled Herold.
The production, now in its eighth season and known as "Ellis Island Stories," had been performed for two years on a sporadic basis until Herold and seven other performers were hired to stage it regularly beginning in 1994.
Since then, the show has become an integral part of the landmark, bringing the museum's displays to life five times a day, seven days a week. This year's season closes at the end of this month.
"These are the actual words of immigrants who came through here," said Herold, now a full-time production program manager for the show. "The truth cannot be denied."
For a half-hour, actors retell several scenarios chosen from the experiences of more than 12 million immigrants who passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924 by ferry. The play weaves the tales of poor and hungry Europeans whose fates are drastically changed once they enter the Hudson River station after crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the bowels of steamships.
The production, created by Amy Feinberg and Kevin Cornelius of The Hypothetical Theatre Company in Manhattan, is funded by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, which has budgeted $180,000 annually for the show. The non-profit organization and the National Park Service are credited with preserving and restoring the international landmarks.
The ranger/actors of a few years ago have given way to 11 contracted actors from Hypothetical who each have three or four characters to play. They studied poignant tales recorded and now restored for posterity in the museum's Oral History Archive.
It took four nights of auditions to select the first actors for Ellis Island Stories, Herold said. Then managed by the National Park Service, the job required actors to know how to perform outdoor services, such as hiking, canoeing, rock climbing, giving first aid, and other activities outlined in the job application.
When the foundation took over, it built a small 61-seat theater for ensemble performances.
"It brings immigrant experiences to life in a way that the exhibits can't," said Peg Zitko, the foundation's director of public affairs. "It has evolved and become an important part of Ellis Island."
To millions of newcomers at the turn of the century, Ellis Island was a path to their dreams as they looked forward to reaping gold and schooling their children in America. But the place also crushed dreams and smashed hopes.
"The Island of Tears," some immigrants named it.
About 20 percent of the immigrants who entered the country through Ellis Island were either detained or turned back for various reasons. Some of them had improper documents and some mental illness. Others were simply told that too many of them had already arrived in America, according to the actors' portrayal.
"Your quota is filled," an inspector tells an Italian girl, curtly explaining that Ellis Island met the permitted number of Italians that month.
The 12-year-old girl is too distraught to speak, clutching her hands on her long peasant skirt in a desperate attempt to pull herself together. She had come to America to be reunited with her mother.
"We cannot come to America," the character says with a thick southern Italian accent and hopeless tone.
The actress, Cheryl Belkin of Westchester, says she understands why audience members sometimes end up misty-eyed after watching the play.
Still, she adds, she marvels at the reaction.
"It makes history immediate and personal," said Belkin, who has been acting in the show for three years.
One character remembers arriving as a 5-year-old Scottish immigrant, and tells a story of how his infant brother died of scarlet fever on Ellis Island. The character still wonders where the baby's body is buried. Another character is bewildered with tasting Jell-O for the first time.
Another actor, portraying a handsome young Russian man, sums up the universal immigrant oath: "All I have is two hands. I have no money and no education. But I know I have the opportunity to prove what a person can do."
"The play was very touching," said Mary Ann Reynolds, a 60-year-old secretary from Philadelphia who drove last week to Ellis Island to do research about her relatives. Her paternal grandparents, who had been farmers in Austria-Hungary, came through in 1904. "I was almost crying."
"Ellis Island Stories" runs through Oct. 31. Tickets are $3 for adults and $2.50 for seniors and children.
For information, call the Statute of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation at (212) 883-1986, ext. 742, or visit the Web site: www.ellisisland.org
Copyright © 1999 Bergen Record Corp.
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