BRUNSWICK

In a series of monologues, actress, writer, educator and comedian Judith Sloan will bring empathy, humor and love of the absurd to Brunswick on Thursday with her show “Off the Record: Between a Laugh and a Hard Place.”

Proceeds from the performance will benefit The Midcoast New Mainers Support Group, an interfaith collaborative of area congregations working to support refugees and asylum seekers as they resettle in the Midcoast.

New Mainers member Joanne Rosenthal said the group originated with a Phippsburg Congregational Church initiative to help refugees and asylum seekers who were struggling to find affordable housing.

Rosenthal said the group’s goal is to help refugee and asylum seekers resettle, navigate systems, share cultural traditions and facilitate person-to-person connections, including English language conversation. Additionally, the group collects furniture, locates affordable housing and provides security deposit loans.

As a descendant of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe fleeing the pogroms, Rosenthal said she is compelled to abide by the sentiment of “tikkun olam,” which in Hebrew means “to repair the world.”

“I feel a duty to welcome people that are fleeing their countries. I would like Maine to be on the map as being a welcoming environment,” she said, noting the state’s aging population. “The state has a lot to gain from what immigrants have to offer … it enriches everyone.”

Thursday’s performance will also benefit EarSay, a nonprofit arts organization co-founded by Sloan that aims to uncover and portray what she calls “stories of the uncelebrated.”

The performance

Sloan is an activist, educator, radio producer and actress out of New York City, and frequently travels to Maine with her husband, a writer and professor at SUNY Purchase.

Though she peppers her show with a large variety of characters inspired by real life, her acting career, and her book “Crossing the BLVD: strangers, neighbors and aliens in a new America,” she also plans to bring a local Maine flavor to her show.

Though her stories revolve around issues of immigration, Sloan believes that the majority of her audience will be able to find solace in them.

“Migration doesn’t just mean immigration — millions of Americans have moved all over the country,” she said. “You have to resettle, reform and start a new life. More people might be doing that in the next 20 years if some of the predictions are true.

Stressful times

“So many Americans are going through so many stressful things that I think the idea of being caught between a laugh and a hard place is something everyone can relate to,” she added. “If we’re in a moment of crisis, I’m going to have to laugh at some of it or I’m going to lose my mind.”

But it’s not always funny. Sloan’s set includes stories of fleeing martial law, losing family members and confronting sexual assault.

“A lot of this stuff is not funny — it’s that kind of nuance in determining if it’s funny or if it’s just weird that this is the world that we live in,” Sloan said. “I want people to see themselves in the characters whoever they are. I can see my grandmother’s family in a refugee who just came here. I know she was a different religion, I know she was a different race, but I can see her in whoever is coming now.

“I think we have to be able to do that — to see each other as humans, or else we’re not able to function,” she added. “I bring that to every moment that I’m representing another character. I know inside that they have an entire history — even if the necessity of performing reduces them to five minutes. I’m trying to bring a sense of humanity to the whole character so it doesn’t become a cartoon.”

“Off the Record” will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Brunswick, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Donations are suggested at $20 at the door and $16 in advance.

TIMES RECORD reporter Juliette Laaka contributed to this story.

surya.milner@gmail.com