Another hundred people: Making their case to stay in the U.S.A.

When the cast of “Flying Toward the Sun” takes its bows at Penguin Rep, it seems like the stage should be more crowded. Five of these actors have played multiple roles, immigrant stories coming alive on a Rockland County stage.

We’ve met Lei and Wu from China, Malith from Sudan, Jean from Haiti, Isabelle from Guatemala, Fatima from Yemen, Mariano from Mexico and Babak from Iran. Each has a heart-breaking story and fervent request.

Take Me, America.

The 90-minute musical, presented without intermission, plays Penguin Rep through Sept. 6. It has music and lyrics by Rockland’s own Neil Berg, and book and lyrics by Bill Nabel.

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These are the voices of people yearning for asylum in a place known for the lady with the torch in New York Harbor. Their asylum journey has landed them at 100 Mulberry Street, in an INS office with an I-589 form and an hour to convince a case worker that denying them asylum would endanger their lives.

A well-founded fear of persecution.

They speak of torture, of being watched, of family members killed, of cartels and violence. They cannot be themselves in a land where they are not free.

They tell their stories, and — this being a musical — sing their stories to two INS bureaucrats. Marsha is in her final weeks before retiring, Gary in his first weeks on the job, the changing of the guard at America’s doorstep. Their job is to weigh the facts dispassionately and make what could be a life-or-death call: who to let in, who to keep out.

The stories they hear tear at the heart.

It got pin-drop quiet when Ian Coulter-Buford, as Malith, tells of life in war-torn Sudan, his culture, his people, his dreams, and what was done to him. And how he hopes the people behind the lanyards and the notepads will give him a “Second Chance.”

Joy DelValle is next, as Isbella Ruiz, an immigrant from Guatemala who sings, appropriately, “Next,” about a childhood looking forward to what is next, but then dreading what is next when government forces begin targeting her family.

Penguin Rep has dedicated its 49th season to stories of the immigrant experience, stories that built a nation marking the 250th anniversary of its own cry for freedom. “Flying Toward the Sun” gives that experience a kaleidoscope of faces and voices and humanity.

A Chinese couple, artists, Jonny Lee Jr. and Carolyn Burch, speak of artistic freedom and Tiananmen Square’s “Tank Man,” the protester who faced down a tank in 1989’s bloody conflict. They make their case, as do a Mexican farmer beset by drug cartels, a young Yemeni woman tracked by the virtue police, a Haitian man who’ll say anything to stay, and an Iranian man who longs to live authentically.

Marsha and Gary, the INS case workers, make a likeable pair in the hands of Cheryl Stern and Michael Notardonato. The weight of their decision is a burden they take seriously.

Stern, a Broadway veteran familiar to fans of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” makes her Penguin debut here in a performance that is grounded and real. Her eyes glisten with each story, and how could they not?

Still, when Notardonato stands to sing the 11 o’clock title song, a full-throated and big number in which he doubts his ability but not his sincerity, it somehow pales in comparison to the stories we’ve heard in the previous 85 minutes.

“I’ll find what’s sane in this insanity

I’ll find the man that’s in humanity

And find who I am.

Flying toward the sun.”

But maybe that’s the point? Here’s an ordinary man listening to extraordinary story and cast in the role of decider.

“Flying Toward the Sun” is set in 2015, predating current policies that begat “Alligator Alcatraz” and similar detention camps, ICE raids and the Minneapolis deaths of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. It also predates DOGE slashing jobs across the government and the end of asylum interviews. One wonders how many Garys and Marshas are even left.

There is a somber coda to the story, one that brings things up to GOP date. As America unfurls those 250th anniversary flags, it has rolled up its welcome mat.

But the stories don’t end, and “Flying Toward the Sun” reminds us of a time when someone living in fear could see that torch and find hope.

Director Joe Brancato’s cast is uniformly fine, breathing life into characters who could be our neighbors, if the decision goes their way.

Berg’s melodies are varied and inventive, capturing the flavor of each homeland. The lyrics can be repetitive but in the case of one lyric — “Take Me America” — the repetition makes sense, creating a wave of urgent pleas. (In fact, “Take Me America” was the title of Nabel’s musical before it came to Penguin.)

Scenic designers Christopher and Justin Swader have the cast occupy a layer cake of circular platforms, with a circular backdrop home for Ein Kim’s effective, location-shifting projections.

Risa Ando’s costumes start with basic black for the immigrants and add a scarf here, a hijab there, enough to establish character. Christopher Wong’s lighting expertly carves up the stage into playing areas.

“Flying Toward the Sun” is the third show in Penguin’s 49th season. It began with “My Lord, What a Night,” by Deborah Brevoort, about the friendship between Albert Einstein and singer Marion Anderson and continued with Lloyd Suh’s “The Heart Sellers,” about two immigrant wives navigating life in America.

What: A musical about asylum seekers with book by Bill Nabel, music by Neil Berg, lyrics by Berg and Nabel, musical staging by Ian Coulter-Buford, and direction by Penguin founding Artistic Director Joe Brancato

When: Through Sept. 6. Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 3 and 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

Where: Penguin Rep, 7 Crickettown Road, Stony Point.

Tickets: $60. Discounts for groups of 10 or more and those 30 and under.

Web: www.penguinrep.org