Irish immigration program Friday

What was it like to immigrate to America in 1910, to seek work to help support your family in Ireland? Thousands of young people _ many barely in their teens _ made their way to America through Ellis Island where they ended up in factory and industrial workshops.

Elgin Kelley, of Living Voices in Denver, will present “The New American,” Friday, March 25 at 4 p.m. in Hot Springs County Library. The program includes Kelley performing and incorporating live theater with video and interaction.

Kelley portrays a young Irish immigrant, Bridget Rose Fitzgerald, who makes her way to the new country via steamship and ends up working in a sweatshop known as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. (The actual factory was the scene of a major disaster when the building caught on fire and hundreds of young women were trapped inside its locked doors.)

Kelley has won numerous awards for best supporting actress in the Denver area. She currently works as an actor and workshop instructor at the Denver Children’s Theater. The program shows the trauma that we see today _ of immigrants leaving their homes, often under difficult circumstances, and the trials they face in a country that can be unwelcoming.

The program is sponsored by Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation and Hot Springs County Library. It is free to the public.

Kelley will also do a residency in the schools earlier in the day.