i Was A Stranger too
'I Was A Stranger Too'
by Cynthia L. Cooper
directed by Carolyn Levy
by Cynthia L. Cooper
directed by Carolyn Levy
The Story
The nine characters in I Was A Stranger Too -- asylum seekers and asylum helpers -- come from a broad swath of life experiences as their paths begin to intertwine and interconnect.
Rory is a Jewish woman from Minnesota who yearns to do more to help asylum seekers as a way of honoring the memory of her own mother's experience as a child survivor of the Holocaust. Polina is a gay woman from Russia who, after being attacked on the street near her home, escapes with the aid of an LGBT network. Channa is a trainer who guides court observation volunteers in understanding traumatized asylum seekers and how to interact with them.
Gabriella is a lawyer of South Asian heritage who is looking for a home for a Guatemalan teenager in immigration detention. Jocelyn is the onsite director of a transitional housing for women asylum seekers. Luciana is a woman from Colombia who, faced with threats after uncovering corruption, is newly arrived and desperate to comfort her daughter.
Elias is a Middle Eastern man from Syria, and a child migrant in Turkey before that, who ends up in Minnesota after the police target him. Shareen is a woman from Cameroon caught in the country's civil strife who travels through nine countries to reach the U.S. Bo is a Hmong woman who came to the U.S. as a child refugee and knows the tender balance that asylum seekers and refugees encounter.
Drawn from dozens of interviews with people in Minnesota and others across the US, I Was A Stranger Too takes audience members beyond stereotypes to the power and capacity of the human spirit. I Was A Stranger Too tells the story of hope that can arise amid chaos, difficulty and trauma.
The nine characters in I Was A Stranger Too -- asylum seekers and asylum helpers -- come from a broad swath of life experiences as their paths begin to intertwine and interconnect.
Rory is a Jewish woman from Minnesota who yearns to do more to help asylum seekers as a way of honoring the memory of her own mother's experience as a child survivor of the Holocaust. Polina is a gay woman from Russia who, after being attacked on the street near her home, escapes with the aid of an LGBT network. Channa is a trainer who guides court observation volunteers in understanding traumatized asylum seekers and how to interact with them.
Gabriella is a lawyer of South Asian heritage who is looking for a home for a Guatemalan teenager in immigration detention. Jocelyn is the onsite director of a transitional housing for women asylum seekers. Luciana is a woman from Colombia who, faced with threats after uncovering corruption, is newly arrived and desperate to comfort her daughter.
Elias is a Middle Eastern man from Syria, and a child migrant in Turkey before that, who ends up in Minnesota after the police target him. Shareen is a woman from Cameroon caught in the country's civil strife who travels through nine countries to reach the U.S. Bo is a Hmong woman who came to the U.S. as a child refugee and knows the tender balance that asylum seekers and refugees encounter.
Drawn from dozens of interviews with people in Minnesota and others across the US, I Was A Stranger Too takes audience members beyond stereotypes to the power and capacity of the human spirit. I Was A Stranger Too tells the story of hope that can arise amid chaos, difficulty and trauma.
