A WONDERFUL NEW MUSICAL!! Check it out!

FOR ALL THOSE IN THE MIDWEST........

A wonderful new musical, Orphan Train, is coming to Iowa this summer. My friend RENEE WENDINGER, author of EXTRA! EXTRA! THE ORPHAN TRAINS AND NEWSBOYS OF NEW YORK, has worked with the director of this show for the past two years, and finally it is a reality. Hopefully the troupe, with much needed sponsorship, can bring this play into more states in the very near future.

Fending for oneself as a child is a rough endeavor. Rev. Charles Loring Brace, and the Children's Aid Society, had a vision to send children away from the over populated New York City streets, to find family homes. Especially with frontier families in the West in hopes of achieving a healthier, happier life away from big-city poverty and neglect. Brace’s foresight resulted in the “placing out” of nearly a quarter of a million orphaned, neglected, and homeless street kids by train across America, in what has become known as the Orphan Trains. The transfer was the first emigration plan and the largest mass migration of children in American history. The hope for these children facing a limited number of real life options, and a multitude of challenges during the 1850s through 1930 was simply--- to be chosen!!!!

This summer, an exciting and moving new musical telling their story is coming to Iowa.

Orphan Train (book by L.E. McCullough, lyrics by Michael Barry Greer, music by Doug Katsaros) will make its Midwestern premiere Aug. 3-12, 2012 at the Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts, 200 N. Main St., Fairfield, Iowa, for seven performances, presented by Way Off Broadway http://wobroadway.com.

Orphan Train is directed by legendary New York choreographer and director Patricia Birch. Ms. Birch has created the musical staging for original Broadway and off-Broadway shows including Grease, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Me Nobody Knows, A Little Night Music, Candide,Over Here, The Happy End, Pacific Overtures, They're Playing Our Song, and many, many more. She is a five-time Tony nominee and winner of Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Barrymore, Billboard, and MTV awards, as well as a Directors Guild nomination and the prestigious Fred Astaire Award for her choreography and direction of music-driven projects ranging from Sondheim to the Rolling Stones.  Set design by Richard Finkelstein

Journey back in time to the turn of the century with the Orphan Train; witness the heartfelt stories of six young orphans who were forced out of New York and relocated by rail to Iowa in this new and sensational musical, based on a true story. Discover a candid and heartwarming family show that embraces dedication, rescue, friendship, abuse, love, separation, and more.

Tickets ($12-$38) may be ordered online at http://www.fairfieldacc.com, by calling the box office at (641) 472-2000 or emailing info@fairfieldacc.com.

Performance Times:

· Friday, Aug. 3 - 7:30 p.m.

· Saturday, Aug. 4 - 7:30 p.m.

· Sunday, Aug. 5 - 2:00 p.m.

· Thursday, Aug. 9 - 7:30 p.m.

· Friday, Aug. 10 - 7:30 p.m.

· Saturday, Aug. 11 - 7:30 p.m.

· Sunday, Aug. 12 - 2:00 p.m.

Having the capability to pay it forward to the next generation, this new musical is a call to address the problems of present day American youth whose childhood is scarred by poverty, homelessness, gangs and addiction. Like Brace, the orphan train team has a broader vision in taking the play into America’s Heartland where orphan trains legacy remains a meaningful part of the cultural landscape, and can serve as a rallying point for renewed social engagement.

As a joint professional and community based approach to presenting historic theater with contemporary relevance, this play is a perfect fund-raising vehicle for organizations; especially ones involving kids where proceeds can help our children attain success and education. The production is a perfect scenario for putting the cast on a train and retracing the route of the original orphan trains through an organized Orphan Train Heartland Tour.

With some support and muscle, the performance of the Orphan Train can make a difference in children’s lives, and leave behind something for people to think about. For more information on how you can make a difference in children facing an uncertain future, and arm them with courage and youthful innocence, sponsorship in bringing Orphan Train across America is exceptionally needed.

Please contact the Orphan Train Heartland Tour to be of assistance c/o Lawrence McCullough at lemccullough@mac.com.

DiMENNA CHILDRENS HISTORY MUSEUM - UPDATE!

Work is underway and on track for the Fall 2011 opening of the DiMenna Children's History Museum in NYC which will be a museum FOR CHILDREN all about the history OF CHILDREN. An entire pavilion will focus on the ORPHAN TRAIN children who traveled from NYC to the Midwest in search of homes.

From the Associated Press....... NEW YORK- The New York Historical Society is closing its galleries for nine months to complete the lst phase of a $65 million renovation of its 1904 building.
The research library and museum near Central Park focuses on material covering four centuries of American and NY history. The museum will close on Tuesday Feb. 1 and reopen on November 11th. The renovation will create a new 3,400 Sq ft. great hall, a children's history museum and a restaurant.
The building's library and reading room will remain open until June 3. It will then close for an interior upgrade that includes cleaning its stained glass window for improved lighting. The library will reopen on Sept. 9th.

RIDING THE ORPHAN TRAIN

In September of 1854, the first ORPHAN TRAIN departed New York City for the state of Michigan with 46 boys ranging in age from 7 to 15. In the following 75 years, over 250,000 children would be transported from east coast cities to communities in every one of the 48 contiguous states. Most, however, were concentrated in the Midwest. While many of the children were indeed orphans, there were just as many half orphans, as well as children who were abandoned by living parents who could not care for them. Taken from orphanages as well as off the streets of the cities, these children would travel together either in boxcars or in passenger cars with their passage donated by the railroad companies or purchased at a reduced rate by the sending agency. The above picture is a Boys Cottage at the Children's Village - an orphanage in Dobbs Ferry on Long Island where my grandfather Oliver Nordmark spent one year before being chosen to ride the train to Bern, Kansas.

With some variability, the orphan trains worked basically like this: Notices would be sent to newspapers in farm communities along the train's route announcing the date and time that a "company of orphan children, under the auspices of The Children's Aid Society" would be arriving in town. Farmers and merchants were encouraged to come and see the children, hear the address to be given by the Escort explaining where the children were from and that they were in search of homes, and then hopefully leave with a new child in tow. Once the train arrived in town, the children were taken to whatever large gathering place was available in town. Often times this was an Opera House where vaudeville performances were frequently staged. If not an Opera House, perhaps a town hall or large church. The children would be lined up on chairs on the stage of the Opera House and then the townspeople would come in, hear the address, then walk along the line of children, inspecting them, and perhaps choosing one to take home. People taking children were expected to treat them as their own children, properly clothe and feed them, send them to school and sunday school, and have them help out on the farm and around the house.

Once placed in a new home, the plan was for a representative of the placing agency to go and check on each child at least once a year to make sure that everything was okay and that both the child and the family were happy with the placement. In truth, this did not always happen. Imagine a train full of 30 children stopping in one small town and those children chosen by farmers who had come in to town that day. Farmers may have traveled as much as 30-40 miles to be there for the train's arrival. With children disbursed at a 40 mile radius around the town, it was not always possible for the agent to get to every child. So, what might happen is that the agent might ask about a particular child while in town and get a good report from a teacher or merchant who knew the family. Or, as has been reported by riders themselves, the agent would always come when the child was at school and the foster parent would vouch for the placement when in fact, the child was terribly unhappy or even abused. The system was not without flaws, that's for sure.

Any child not chosen during the stop would board the train and travel to the next town on the route to try again. If any children remained when the train reached the end of the line, they would travel back to NYC to try again another day on another route. The more the railroad system was built up, the further west, south and north the children traveled.

CHECK BACK SOON to see how the Sisters of Charity operated their "BABY TRAINS"!