Stories from the City of Immigrants

symphony space

 

PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH:

NY Immigration Coalition


DATE:

April 20, 2026

STORIES CURATED & SCRIPT ASSEMBLED BY:

Lee Sunday Evans & Liza Zapol


LOCATION:

Symphony Space Peter Jay Sharp Theatre

MEDIA PARTNER:

Documented


PRICE:

Sliding Scale, $10-$50

DESCRIPTION

Stories from the City of Immigrants was an evening of stories curated from oral history collections that vividly bring to life the vital role immigrants play in New York City's past, present and future. Poignant, funny, and surprising, these stories span 125 years and many countries of origin, creating a visceral experience of the epic journeys so many people have taken to make NYC their home. The sold-out house was standing room only as over 800 audience members joined us on April 20th.

The performance was recorded for national broadcast on Symphony Space’s syndicated Selected Shorts radio show and podcast to reach hundreds of thousands of people across the country in Summer 2026.

We were joined by Commissioner Faiza N. Ali of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, as well as Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition. Documented, New York's nonprofit, multilingual news site for and about our immigrant communities, was a media partner. We also shared resources from New York For All, New York Civil Liberties Union, and Hands Off NYC.

See the full star-studded list of performers below!

INFORMATION

  • Hosted by Arian Moayed (Succession, Nobody Wants This)

    Featuring:

    • Camila Canó-Flaviá (Punch, Dance Nation)

    • Roberta Colindrez (A League of Their Own, Vida)

    • Micaela Diamond (Parade, Elsbeth)

    • Kathryn Grody (Don’t Listen to Us, A Mom's Life)

    • Jayne Houdyshell (Only Murders in the Building, The Humans)

    • Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Barbie)

    • Sunita Mani (GLOW, His & Hers)

    • Justin H. Min (Beef, After Yang)

    • Sepideh Moafi (The Pitt, Black Bird)

    • Laith Nakli (Ramy, The Wall)

    • Tramell Tillman (Severance, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning)

    • Pej Vahdat (DareDevil: Born Again, The Old Man)

    With Musical Performances By:

    • FogoAzul, the women-led samba reggae drumline marching band

    • Ruthie Ann Miles (All Rise, The Courtroom).

  • The stories were curated and edited by Liza Zapol, with collaboration from Lee Sunday Evans, from the following New York oral history collections:

TRAILER

Filmed and edited by joy burklund, Zanni Productions

GALLERY

Photos by Nile Scott
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