Casting Call for Men and Women for "Ellis Island"

AMERICAN (Male-presenting, baritone) Commissioner of Ellis Island from about 1906 until 1909. Actual historical character. He himself had been an immigrant and worked at Ellis Island as an inspector in 1896. He believed that immigrants were beneficial to America and loosened the money requirements instituted by his predecessor, Comm. Williams. His hobby was photography, and he is responsible for a good deal of the portraits of immigrants that exist today.

AMERICAN (Female-presenting, musical theatre soparano, G-E) She is second-generation Swedish. Her parents were immigrants who came through Castle Garden. She is single and her parents are very wealthy. She is a crusader and president of the Society for The Protection of Immigrants, which is a fictitious group, but representative of the type of organizations that were forming to combat the abuses perpetrated on immigrants. Doubles as a first-class passenger in the opening scene.

AMERICAN (Male-presenting, non-singing) Dr. Schmidt is the overworked, serious, sympathetic head doctor at Ellis Island. He oversees the hospital where certain immigrants are sent to recover. Doubles as an immigrant or ship captain/ticket seller in the opening scene. Light ensemble singing.

AMERICAN (Male-presenting, tenor) Sammy Tate is the head baggage handler. He is notorious for ripping off unsuspecting immigrants. Everyone knows it, but, he has yet to be caught red-handed. He will be by the end of the play. Doubles as an immigrant in the opening scene.

AMERICAN (Male-presenting, non-singing) Mr. Herbert Winston is the chief inspector. He does initial inspections and sits on the Board Of Special Inquiry as well. He is "by the book", but, somewhat absentminded. He means well but often misunderstands the situation and then compounds confusion. Doubles as an immigrant or ship captain/ticket seller in the opening scene. Light ensemble singing.

AMERICAN (Male-presenting, non-singing) George is an assistant inspector who works for Mr. Winston. The immigrants always confuse him with the George Washington and it's a running joke. He is very serious and does not like joking. He is very proud of his job. Doubles as an immigrant or ship captain/ticket seller in the opening scene. Light ensemble singing.

AMERICAN (Female-presenting, mezzo) Nurse Martin is head nurse at the Ellis Island Hospital. She works directly for Dr. Schmidt. They are friendly. Nurse Martin is his "right hand man". Doubles as a 1st class passenger in the opening scene.

AMERICAN (Female-presenting, mezzo) President of The Ladies' Aid and Temperance League. Very righteous and nosey. Comedic character who is concerned about the moral character of the incoming immigrants. She has a run-in with Kate Sullivan. Doubles as a 1st class passenger in the opening scene.

AMERICAN (Female-presenting, mezzo) Examining nurse assisting the doctors "on the line" during the initial examinations. Gossipy. She wants Nurse Martin's job. She is critical of everyone and everything. Doubles as a 1st class passenger in the opening scene.

AMERICAN (Female-presenting, soprano) Vice-president of The Ladies' Aid Society and Temperance League. Good friend of Mrs. MacArthur, but her opinions change depending upon to whom she is speaking. She calls everyone "very nice". Doubles as a 1ª class passenger in the opening scene.

AMERICAN (Female-presenting, non-singing) Stenographer to Commissioner Watchorn. Always writing down his directives. He is continually dismissing her then shouting, "Where is Miss Buckley? Confound that girl! She's never here when I need her!". Doubles as a 1 class passenger in the opening scene. Light ensemble singing.

AMERICAN (Female-presenting, non-singing) Stenographer to Inspector Winston. She gets exasperated with Mr. Winston because of his forgetfulness and because he is always confusing the issue. Miss Ward is constantly being mistaken for Miss Buckley by Comm. Watchorn and others, and she finds this very annoying. She is outspoken for a woman of 1907. Doubles as a 1 class passenger in the opening scene. Light ensemble singing.

AMERICAN (Female-presenting, non-singing) She is a charwoman on Ellis Island. She emigrated from Italy 6 years before. She doesn't like dirt and is constantly cleaning. If someone walks on a floor she has just swept, she'll look at them, look at the floor, then make a big deal about resweeping it. Doubles as a 1st class passenger in the opening scene. Light ensemble singing.

AMERICAN (Female-presenting, mezzo) Treasurer of The Ladies Aid Society and Temperance League. She is part of the Wilhelmina and Mary "threesome". They are always interrupting her. The women resent Miss Anderssen and consider her to be intruding on their territory, but they kow-tow to her because her father is a personal friend of Teddy Roosevelt and she went to school with Alice Roosevelt. The three ladies,

ITALIAN IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) The mother of Carolina and Paolo, she is traveling to America to rejoin her husband, Antonio, who has sent the money for their passage. Her husband has been staying with his brother and his brother's family. She hasn't seen him for 2 years. She is outspoken, good-natured, and down-to- earth. The "ladies" try to make her over into an "American", but she changes back to her old self as soon as she is away from them.

ITALIAN IMMIGRANT (Male-presenting, baritone) A peasant farmer who is travelling to America with his five sisters. They are planning to journey all the way to California to start an orange-growing farm. He has sold their farm and everything they own to do this, and his sisters are not happy about it. They are afraid. To make matters worse, he leaves his ticket money in his baggage, and it is stolen by Sammy Tate.

ITALIAN IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble-singing) One of Giuseppe's 5 sisters. She also plays the mean orphanage owner who sends Anna to America in steerage and pockets the rest of the money for her Ist class ticket.

ITALIAN IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble-singing) One of Giuseppe's 5 sisters. Also, a matron with the orphanage owner who puts Anna on the "BEL ITALIA"

ITALIAN IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) One of Giuseppe's 5 sisters.

ITALIAN IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) Sister to Giuseppe. She does not get through the medical inspection because she is blind in one eye. She tells them she can see better with one eye than most people can see with two. She reads the full eyechart and tells them about a childhood accident which made her lose her eye. She convinces them and they let her through, but she still must go to detention because their money has been stolen.

ITALIAN IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) Sister to Giuseppe. She is the only one who agrees with her brother about going to America. She is also the oldest and is older than her brother.

MAGYAR (Hungarian) IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, mezzo) The mother of 4 girls, Jutka is journeying from Poloske, Austria-Hungary, to meet her husband who left for America 3 years earlier. During the trip, her youngest daughter, Ildiko, becomes very ill. By the time they reach Ellis Island, she has a temperature of 103° and she is sent to the hospital. Jutka goes with her and her daughters go to detention.

MAGYAR (Hungarian) IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) From Poloske, Austria-Hungary, she is a friend and former neighbor of Jutka Haraszti. They have been traveling together. Their husbands work for the same butcher in New York. The reason that she waits in detention is that her husband did not receive the telegram she sent because they changed addresses. Eventually, it is all cleared up and there is a happy reunion at the end of the show.

MAGYAR (Hungarian) IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) She is Slovak, from the area of what is now Czechoslovakia. Her husband was killed in a farming accident, and she is travelling with her 2 children to join her brother on a farm in Iowa. She purchases tickets for the train when she gets through inspection.

IRISH IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, mezzo-soprano/belt) Fiery Irish girl, 19 years old. She is unaware that you can't get into America if you are a single girl and not accompanied by a man. She is outspoken and audacious and her mouth gets her into trouble. She ultimately marries Timothy O'Reilly at the Kissing Post and that is how she gets into America.

IRISH IMMIGRANT (Male-presenting, bari-tenor) A member of the Fenians, the forerunner of the Irish Republican Army, he is escaping the law by going to America. His friend, Daniel Murphy is also on the run. They were involved in robbing a bank and the British authorities are after them. He is held in detention because and English passenger recognizes his picture from a Wanted poster he had seen.

IRISH IMMIGRANT (Male-presenting, bari-tenor) A member of the Fenians (see above), Daniel is running from British law along with his friend, Timothy O'Reilly. They are not really criminals but, believe they were doing their patriotic duty while robbing the bank. Daniel falls in love with and marries Colleen Sullivan.

IRISH IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) Mother of 2 children, she is going to meet her husband whom she has not seen for 2 years. He is a coalminer in West Virginia. She and her family wait in detention until her husband can wire her train tickets. She learns on the boat that Irene O'Grady is going to the same company town to be with her husband, and they become friends.

IRISH IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) She is a 28-year-old wife and mother of two boys. She hasn't seen her husband in 4 years and is worried about seeing him again. She becomes friends with Elizabeth O'Donnell when she finds out they are going to be neighbors. She and her family also wait in detention until the train tickets can be wired to them.

ENGLISH IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) 45-ish spinster who worked for the postal service as a stenographer, she recognizes TIMOTHY and DANIEL from a wanted poster that was hanging in her former office. She tells INSPECTOR WINSTON that they are fugitives from the law. She has come to America to spend her old age with her sister's family.

RUSSIAN & POLISH IMMIGRANT (Male-presenting, bass-baritone) NICOLAI is an anarchist and Russian Jew from Moscow. He is wanted by the law in connection. with a bombing of the Czar's relatives city home. NICOLAI is a loner. At first he speaks to no- one, but, while onboard the "DEUTSCHLAND" he overhears some women cursing the anarchists for causing the pogrom.

RUSSIAN & POLISH IMMIGRANT (Male-presenting, ensemble singing) He is a young man coming to America to escape persecution. His wife and child are staying behind in Russia. He is a cabinetmaker by profession and gets through the examinations quickly.

RUSSIAN & POLISH IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) One of three sisters traveling onboard the "DEUTSCHLAND", she is going to join her husband who is a tailor. Her nieces are ESTER and RACHEL. She does not approve of their socializing with NICOLAI.

RUSSIAN & POLISH IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) Niece to ANUSHKA and sister to ESTER, she is a seamstress and interested in NICOLAL. Her aunt, ANUSHKA, calls her every time she sees her speaking to NICOLAI. RACHEL is a seamstress.

RUSSIAN & POLISH IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) She is a Polish wife whose husband is working in a steel mill in Ohio. In Poland she taught school in a one room class to Jewish children. This she did secretly because it was forbidden. She is relieved to be heading for America. She has one daughter, ADEL, but she is looking out for the two BERKOWICZ sisters, SADI and ELIZABETH, who are also going to Ohio. There is a mix up in their papers, so they temporarily go to detention.

RUSSIAN & POLISH IMMIGRANT (Male-presenting, ensemble singing) The patriarch of the SVENSSON family. Per is a widower and a 'kindly older man whom everyone loves. GRETSCHEN is his daughter. He has 4 sons in Minnesota. He has his three daughter-in-laws traveling with him... HELGA (the oldest, with 5 kids), ERICA and ASTRID. His daughter, GRETSCHEN, has one child, INGRID. HELGA's children are DANA, KIRSTEN & BRUNHILDE (twins), RONA & ERIC.

RUSSIAN & POLISH IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) The excitable daughter-in-law of PER. HELGA has children, DANA, KIRSTEN & BRUNHILDE (twins), RONA and ERIC. She is very emotional and a close friend of GRETSCHEN.

RUSSIAN & POLISH IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, ensemble singing) Daughter of PER. Mother of INGRID. GRETSCHEN is calm and level-headed, like her father. She is sensible, realistic, and kind. In the end, she realizes first, that PER is correct in his decision to return home alone. She makes the rest of the family accept his decision, even though HELGA is crying hysterically about it.

RUSSIAN & POLISH IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, 1ensemble singing) Cheerful oldest daughter of HELGA. She is always smiling.

RUSSIAN & POLISH (Female-presenting, ensemble singing only) She is the bossy, young, Danish wife of Hans. They are farmers travelling to America. They are temporarily sent to detention because she is "with child" and didn't realize it. She is sent to the head nurse for a further medical examination, but at first, she is very argumentative because she doesn't understand why she is being sent there. Eventually, she is reunited with her husband, and they get through immigration.

RUSSIAN & POLISH (Male-presenting, ensemble singing only) Henpecked husband of ULRIKA. He finally stands up to her at the end. For medical reasons, ULRIKA is detained, so HANS waits for her in men's detention.

CARIBBEAN & WEST INDIAN IMMIGRANT (Female-presenting, lyric mezzo) The 28-year-old wife of Dr. Pierre Bonet from Guadeloupe. Her husband is a brilliant man who has set up a practice in New York. She has traveled here 1st class from Guadeloupe, but she has been sent to Ellis Island for processing because she is black and because her daughter walks with the use of a crutch. She has two daughters, ANTOINETTE, and DOMINIQUE, who is lame in one leg and walks with a crutch.

(Male-presenting, one scene, no lines, commonly doubled)

Mrs. Bonet's husband who arrives in the final scene to pick her up (male- presenting, one scene, acting only, a few lines)

The head of the New York Ballet Company (male-presenting, one scene, acting only, a few lines)

Anna's uncle who arrive in the final scene to pick her up (one scene, acting only, a few lines)

Anna's aunt who arrive in the final scene to pick her up (one scene, acting only, a few lines)

Only in the opening scene, frequently doubled with an "American", acting/pantomime only.