Support The Silent Room: A Worker's Musical

A quick shout out to all the cast, crew, and supporters of The Silent Room: A Worker's Musical.  From the production's website:

In this music-laced sendup of corporate exploitation, retail worker Ray's dreams of becoming a playwright are eclipsed by the double-shifts and tyrannical bosses of corporate America… until a ghostly visit from martyred union legend Joe Hill shows him that when workers unite, everything can change. Ray's coworkers begin talking union, and soon find themselves toe-to-toe with corporate unionbusters. As the fight heats up, Ray has to decide which side he is on.

Inspired by the torture of years of labor in corporate retail hellholes and the exhilaration of confronting the bosses in the IWW Starbucks Workers Union, THE SILENT ROOM is an original work of musical theater born of exploitation, struggle, and hope for a better future.

The Silent Room is set for its world premier as part of the renowned Minnesota Fringe festival line-up.  Do yourself a favor and check this show out during its festival run.  If you won't be in the area and/or can't make one of the performances, please consider donating funds towards the cost of production.  The show's themes and experiences - taken from the actual workplaces where people are organizing - deserve more attention in the arts community.  The scenes will surely resonate with most everyone, whatever your job might be.  The Silent Room will challenge you to consider your own employment situation and hopefully inspire you to take that first step.  Get a laugh from the new film Horrible Bosses, but get something lasting, something real from The Silent Room!

N.B. This production continues the long, rich tradition of dramatic arts in the Industrial Workers of the World labor union.  Though, I imagine Edith Koivisto and others from the historical Work People's College might dispute the claim that this is the first IWW musical since the 1913 Paterson Strike Pageant.  Not a musical per se, but take a look at the opening scene from The Majority - a one act play composed by another Minnesota IWW (and noted cartoonist), Ernest Riebe.

Riebe's play appeared in the May, 1921 issue of The Industrial Pioneer.