“[Mark] Harelik’s irresistible comedy-drama [is] one of the sweetest and coziest plays imaginable.”—Houston Post 1909. The year that Haskell Harelik, a nineteen-year-old Russian émigré, arrives at the port of Galveston, Texas. Far from his native land and struggling with an alien language, Haskell becomes a penny-a-piece fruit peddler in and around the small town of Hamilton. In the decades that follow, he attains success as a merchant and community leader—and is recognized as a beloved husband, father, and neighbor. This is Haskell Hareklik’s story . . . and our story. This critically acclaimed drama celebrates the immigrant experience—the laughter and tears, the toils and triumphs.

The Immigrant: A Hamilton County Album

Literature & Fiction

Harelik, Mark

Dramas & Plays

Ballantine Books

THE IMMIGRANT, subtitled `A Hamilton County Album', is a true story about two Eastern European Jews who immigrated to a small Texas town in 1909. Inspired by his grandmother's photo album, Harelik tells the story of two out of the thousands of Jewish immigrants who ended up in the American Southwest through an immigrant resettlement program.

The Immigrant

Broadway Play Pub

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.

The Legacy

Mark Harelik

Broadway Play Publishing

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

Broadway Play Publishing, Incorporated

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harelik, Mark. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Harelik, Mark

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harelik, Mark. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Immigrant: A Hamilton County Album

The Immigrant

The Legacy

The Immigrant