On his arrival in America, the , Lugosi worked for some time as a laborer, and then entered the theater in New York City's Hungarian immigrant colony. With fellow expatriate Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. Lugosi acted in several Hungarian plays before breaking out into his first English Broadway play, "The Red Poppy", in 1922. Three more parts came in 1925–26, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy "The Devil in the Cheese".