photo by Peter Worrall

The Barrow Group presented a staged reading of Migrations, a play by Cassandra Lewis.

Becca Worthington directed and actors from The Barrow Group School brought the play to life: Izze Gibson, Danny Borbon, Michelle Finn, Richard Torres, Alex Coehlo, Bonnie White, and Alison Wonderland.  The Barrow Group was founded on Barrow Street in 1986, but their theaters are now located at 312 W. 36th Street.  The play was performed in the Garret Theater on Saturday, November 20 at 7 pm.

This was the first performance of Migrations, though the play has been a finalist in two national competitions: The Aurora Theatre’s Global Age Project and CoHo Productions’ New by Northwest play contest.  An excerpt from the play was recently published by Editions Bibliotekos in the literary anthology, Common Boundary.

In Migrations two families living next door to each other in San Francisco’s Mission District explore the connection between blood origins and individual aspirations.  After a young mother refuses to pay “garbage fees” to her landlord she is arrested for living in the U.S. without a green card and faced with the decision of leaving her American-born baby behind with her neighbors or bringing him with her to prison.

Migrations examines what it means to love, whether it is a parent’s love in the face of a life or death decision or an artist’s love in the face of sacrificing personal integrity to succeed.  Is it possible to be completely independent, or are we by nature communal beings, who, at times are called upon to leave our important, isolated worlds to make sacrifices on behalf of others?