They were among 60 people whom the Bregamos Theater Company and the city drew to Fair Haven's theater-by-the-sea, otherwise known as Quinnipiac River Park, on a serene late Sunday afternoon.

The young actors of Pregones Theater, a New York-based company, brought their acclaimed "Cantata a los Emigrantes" to New Haven because Bregamos's Rafael Ramos met them in Holland in the spring, where both companies were appearing at an international festival for community theater groups.

"Go figger," said Ramos, who described himself and Bregamos, New Haven's grassroots Latino theater, as hosts for the event." We had to go Rotterdam to meet a great Puerto Rican theater group from the Bronx!"

Using minimal props -- such as these scarves that double both as the capes of Ponce de Leon and his conquistadors as well as the shackles applied to the hands of the exploited undocumented Guatemalans picked up in the Agriprocess raid in Postville Iowa in 2008 --- the cantata moves in and out of past and present. With sweet and varied musical forms, the cantata presents themes considerably more ambitious than, for example, the feel-good nostrums of West Side Story.

Exploited labor, the frustrated desire for independence, being in a state of perpetual transit, and even satirical jabs at the odd condescension of well-meaning Yankee schoolteachers and Upper West Side Liberals are among the issues taken on by this troup of sweet-voiced 20-somethings: Rosal Colon, Omar Perez. Sol Crespo, Ricardo Gonzales, and Yaritza Pizarro

The play, in the repertoire of Pregones since the mid-1980s, was revised, according to director Jorge Merced, by these young actors based on historical research and their own life experiences. "Migration is an issue as old as time," said Merced. "As young people figure out who they are, the way they talk, what they aspire to, this is a tribute to those who went through it before."

Why did a proud Rafael Ramos and introducer Kica Matos, the city's community services director, bring Migrants to New Haven this summer? "We're a sanctuary city," said Ramos "We think it's really important that Latino-born citizens and non-citizens both see this piece."

"This city, and especially Fair Haven," said Matos, "has always been a port of entry. The play, with beautiful songs and music, tells a story of human transit, displacement, and, mot importantly, of hope, from one generation to another."

Towards the end of the cantata, in a scene that evokes a funeral, the recitation goes like this: "I am an immigrant, and migration is not a crime... I thought what I was doing was voluntary exile ... How did I know it would end like this ... Did I really make a choice, or was it made for me?"

Among the sponsors of this summer theater event were La Voz Hispana, the New Haven Office of Cultural Affairs, Neighborworks, and Empower New Haven. Pregones, which this summer toured Migrants in some dozen performances in New York, New Jersey, and culminating in Fair Haven, has been touring for 29 years. The group's site is pregones.org.