The following press release is from We Start Here:
On May 26, more than 300 South Orange and Maplewood community members packed SOPAC for Stories Without Borders, a live storytelling fundraiser benefiting Make the Road New Jersey — and left on their feet.
The event, produced by Sharon Michaels (in partnership with We Start Here) and directed by Heather Kasdan, featured seven storytellers sharing first-person narratives of their immigrant experience, spanning Cuba, the Philippines, China, Indonesia, Ukraine, Peru, and Mexico. Two stories were read by community readers rather than the storytellers themselves — a necessary precaution to protect the safety of those whose stories carried risk in today’s climate.
That climate was impossible to ignore. Less than 10 miles away at Delaney Hall, protests have continued over conditions at the ICE detention facility, where Senator Andy Kim was recently tear-gassed while attempting to check on detainee welfare. Inside SOPAC, the stories being told from the stage were not abstractions. They were the human truths behind the headlines.
Broadway veteran Miguel Cervantes, best known for nearly 2,000 performances as Alexander Hamilton in the Chicago and Broadway productions of Hamilton, anchored the night alongside the brave and powerful storytellers.
The audience response was unmistakable. A standing ovation closed the show, with attendees remarking upon the courage, tenderness and beauty of the evening.
In total, the evening raised over $20,000 for Make the Road NJ, which provides community organizing, legal services, and educational programs to immigrant and working-class families across NJ. To support the cause, please visit Donate – Make The Road New Jersey.
We Start Here, founded in the SOMA community, designs grassroots fundraising events intended to grow into recurring programs run by their nonprofit partners. Stories Without Borders is exactly the model they envisioned — urgent, local, and alive.
