“Coming to America” – Civic Symphony of Green Bay Concert – April 16th

The Civic Symphony of Green Bay is pleased to announce the cast for its upcoming performance of Ellis Island: The Dream of America at the orchestra’s concert “Coming to America” on Sunday, April 16, 2023.

Peter Boyer’s Ellis Island: The Dream of America celebrates the historic American immigrant experience and the American dream. The 45-minute multimedia work combines music played by the orchestra, actors reading the words of actual American immigrants, and projected historical images from the Ellis Island archives.

Local actors auditioned to read each of the seven immigrant stories, monologues delivered in the first person with musical underscoring. The seven roles will be played by:

● Elly Kirkendall – Words of Helen Cohen, from Poland in 1920 at age 20
● Sergio Heredia – Words of James Apanomith,  from Greece in 1911 at age 16
● Grace Heine – Words of Lillian Galletta,  from Italy in 1928 at age 4
● Nicholas Schuh – Words of Lazarus Salamon, from Hungary in 1920 at age 16
● Carol Marbes – Words of Helen Rosenthal, from Belgium in 1940 at age 30
● Daniel Green – Words of Manny Steen, from Ireland in 1925 at age 19
● Sandy Zochert – Words of Katherine Beychok, from Russia in 1910 at age 10

In addition to the Ellis Island work, the orchestra’s 28th season finale concert will also include Victor Herbert’s American Fantasia and a presentation by the Brown County Historical Society focusing on Wisconsin immigrants, including the history of the Hmong American community. Join the musicians in the lobby following the performance for cookies.

Tickets are available HERE.