Beginning in 1852 and continuing until the 1920s, homeless, abandoned and orphaned children were taken from the streets of crowded eastern cities and moved to the Midwest where families waited to take care of them. Next week the Kearney community and UNK will collaborate in a musical production to tell the stories of six of these children.

Dr. Anne Foradori, a professor of music at UNK, spent five years researching the stories of those who made the journey to create “Orphan Train: The Musical.” Foradori also partnered with her colleagues in UNK’s College of Arts and Sciences to organize the Orphan Train Colloquium, a two-day conference scheduled for Oct. 2-3 that will explore the social welfare program through multiple disciplines and perspectives.

“The things we cover in the production are still relevant today. I hope people leave talking about it and it encourages them to work towards changing things and helping others more.”

Trisha Miller

The musical’s first showing will be at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3. There will also be 7:30 p.m. performances Thursday-Saturday. The musical’s final performance will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7.

The event, which is supported by UNK and grant funding from Humanities Nebraska, will bring educators, researchers, speakers and performing arts professionals together to discuss the Orphan Train Movement and its impact on America’s past and present.

The Children’s Aid Society took on the responsibility of finding homes for thousands of children who were left homeless during the crisis. It was called the Orphan Train movement, named for the trains that carried the children to their new lives. It is estimated that over 200,000 children made the journey with 3,500 of the children finding new lives with Nebraskan families.

The program came to an end with the arrival of the Great Depression and the creation of an official foster care system in large eastern cities. 

The story of the Orphan Train is a reminder that poverty and homelessness still plague modern society.

“Something I hope people take away from the musical is that these harsh things still exist,” said Trisha Miller, a theatre major from Lincoln who plays Harriet Pemberton in the musical. “Poverty still exists. Children are still suffering. The things we cover in the production are still relevant today. I hope people leave talking about it and it encourages them to work towards changing things and helping others more.”

The musical is guest directed by Patricia Birch, a Tony Award winning director and choreographer. Birch has been directing on and off Broadway for many years and will work with the UNK Theatre program as well as the Kearney community to bring these stories to life.