TELEGRAM & GAZETTE (Massachusetts)
May 1, 2009 Friday
ALL EDITIONS

Out of tragedy, hope;
Play traces Armenian journey to Worcester after genocide

by Lisa D. Welsh, Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER

Seven-year-old Erica Pearson is learning about the Statue of Liberty
in school, but she received a priceless education about that national
landmark while listening to her grandmother this week.

"My mother came to America alone, but she became part of the Armenian
community here and that became her family," Varsenig "Dusty"
(Dostourian) Cotter said. "If you are Armenian, it doesn’t matter
where you are from. There’s an immediate connection. You are family."

Mrs. Cotter and her best friend, Janis (Pululian) Arvanigian, shared
their families’ stories about immigrating to America while preparing
for Sunday’s production of "Hello Ellis Island," which is being
sponsored by their church, Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church.

The event is part of the church’s recognition of the Armenian
genocide, which began April 24, 1915, when Ottoman authorities
arrested about 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in
Constantinople. Among them was Mrs. Cotter’s grandfather, an official
in the Turkish government.

Mrs. Cotter spoke of her grandfather and uncles, who were shot after
being tied together in a long line with a rope. Her mother, Haiganoosh
(Baghdassarian) Dostourian, was one of the few who survived the death
march into the Syrian desert.

The 30-member cast of "Hello Ellis Island" is made up of sons,
daughters and grandchildren of Armenian genocide survivors who share
their stories about immigrants who climb aboard a ship bound for
America after the Ottoman Turkish Empire killed 1,500,000 Armenians
between 1915 and 1923.

"None of us spoke about why we didn’t have any grandparents," said
Mrs. Cotter. "As children, at holidays, we had no grandparents or big
families to share it with. After the Memorial Day parade, we never
congregated around graves because there weren’t any."

An unlikely subject for a musical, the production is a story of hope
interspersed with music and folk songs of the Armenian
culture. Sunday’s production focuses on what happened to the survivors
who came to America, crammed in among the steerage class on the lowest
deck of a steamship, and started their lives over.

"The stories and memories are all the same. It relates to how they
came here, the land of great opportunity, with pictures in hand of
husbands-to-be that they’d never met before," Mrs. Arvanigian said.

Although the production doesn’t include their families’ experiences
specifically, the ladies said those are universal in the Armenian
community.

Mrs. Arvanigian’s grandmother was 17 when she boarded the King
Alexander in Constantinople and got off at Ellis Island. Her future
husband’s cousin had traveled to an orphanage in Constantinople and,
after choosing a wife for himself, showed her a photo of a tall thin,
man.

"The photo was old and it turned out my grandfather was short and
stocky but she said, `Oh, well,’" Mrs. Arvanigian said. "She was told
that she did not have to leave the orphanage, but she chose to because
she said she had nothing to keep her there."

Nevart and Asadoor Pululian married, and with the help of other
Armenians in Worcester, made a new life.

"Marriages lasted forever because there was a deep form of respect,"
Mrs. Cotter said. "With the other members of the Armenian community,
they had a secure life."

The ladies recalled that if you didn’t have any money for food, you
would write what you needed in the grocer’s book, and when you had
money, you’d pay it.

"We were never hungry because my mother could make something out of
nothing. We didn’t have much, but I never went without," Mrs. Cotter
said.

Once in America, and focusing on rebuilding their new life, few spoke
about the Death March.

"My grandparents didn’t talk about it," Mrs. Arvanigian said. "But
when I was about 9 years old, my grandfather once tried to tell me
about it, but my grandmother stopped him, saying, `She’s a child. She
doesn’t need to know.’"

"Hello Ellis Island" has been touring Armenian churches in New England
for more than a decade. With Mrs. Arvanigian’s daughter, Nicole
Apelian, and Mrs. Cotter’s granddaughter, Erica, listening nearby, the
artists’ goal of sharing the values and principals of Armenian
families and culture with younger generations already has been
accomplished.

"Hello Ellis Island," sponsored by the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic
Church, will be presented at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Hebert Auditorium at
Quinsigamond Community College, 670 West Boylston St.,
Worcester. Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for students. For more
information, call Janis Arvanigian at (508) 754-1039, Dusty Cotter at
(508) 852-3328 or Donna Markarian-Mooradian at (508) 596-2848.

`Hello Ellis Island’

WHEN: 2 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Hebert Auditorium at Quinsigamond Community College, 670 West
Boylston St., Worcester

HOW MUCH: $30 for adults and $15 for students

INFORMATION: Call Janis Arvanigian at (508) 754-1039, Dusty Cotter at
(508) 852-3328 or Donna Markarian- Mooradian at (508) 596-2848.