The Immigrant

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 thirty 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".


"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, U S A Today