Fri 2/23-Sun 3/3
Chicago interviewer/historian/author Studs Terkel was best known for his skill at eliciting the stories of people’s lives, whether he was interviewing well-known people or ordinary working people. The title of his best-known book, 1974’s Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, gives away his game: listening and preserving humble stories (640 pages of them!) that add up to the bigger story of who we are.
The musical Working, based on his book, was first performed, appropriately, at Chicago’s Goodman Theater. Obviously it doesn’t tell all the stories in the book but culls them down to a representative sample, capturing the feel of the lives documented. The play has been updated — certainly the types of jobs people worked at have changed a lot — no more phone operators, lots of software designers and brand managers.
Working is the Broadview Heights Spotlights’ Annual Coffee House production. The production features a free non-alcoholic beverage bar sponsored by Caruso’s Coffee and sweets available for purchase. The 19-member case is directed by Ryan Bergeron. It runs Thursdays-Saturdays @ 7:30pm and Sundays @ 3pm through March 3 at Spotlight Theater, 9543 Broadview Road, Bldg. 22 (on the Broadview Heights city campus next to the Police Department). For tickets, go to broadview-heights-spotlights.org/theater/shows/working/