They Came to the Castle: Immigrants, a Tenor and Lola Montez is a historical play by lesbian author Barbara Kahn set in the mid- 19th century in a now landmarked building in Battery Park that was the entry point to the United States prior the facility on Ellis Island. Newly-arrived travelers share their reasons for immigrating and their hopes and dreams, finding love and success in a new land. An Irishman fleeing the potato famine; an Italian man who escaped from forced child labor in the sulphur mines of Sicily; the sole survivor of a pogrom (organized violence against Jews) in a Russian village; a woman who “always felt different” and ran from an arranged marriage; a Freeborn African American woman who works for the NYC Commission on Immigration. The building was briefly a prominent entertainment center. In a re-imagining of a night of entertainment at Castle Garden, the Italian tenor Lorenzo Salvi performs along with the infamous Lola Montez, dancer and courtesan, who recreates her notorious “Spider Dance.” March 19-29, Thursday – Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm; April 1-4, Wednesday – Saturday at 8pm. 155 1st Ave. (9th & 10th Sts.). Res/Info: 212-254-1109. Tkts: $15, seniors and students $12, TDF accepted.