http://www.theunion.com/article/20100902/PROSPECTOR/100909938/1020%26parentprofile=1055
September 2, 2010
"Anyone concerned about the state of global politics and about the
state of political humor should listen to the San Francisco Mime
Troupe's message."
The New York Times
"Part savagely acute political satire, part living newspaper, and all
broad, tuneful, and timely musical comedy." San Francisco Chronicle
The San Francisco Mime Troupe will make its first appearance at the
Nevada Theater on Thursday, September 9.
The Mime Troupe have been performing in Nevada County annually for
nearly 20 years.
The Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe opens its 51st
season with POSIBILIDAD, or Death of the Worker. A small U.S. factory
is shutting down. All of the workers are losing their jobs, and to
add insult to injury, they have also lost their last two weeks of pay
and retirement funds, which were raided over the years to pay stock dividends.
On the final day of work, a pregnant employee, suddenly overtaken
with labor pains, sits down on the job. Interpreting this as an act
of defiance, the boss calls security. The situation escalates and
before anyone has a chance to think, the workers have accidentally
occupied the factory.
During the negotiation process, the boss tries intimidation,
patriotism and red scare tactics, while the workers just try to
figure out what the heck they're doing.
Some say wreck the place. Others blame the union. One worker, an
Argentine ex-pat, says they should consider running the factory
themselves and is immediately labeled a "commie."
At night, as the occupying workers entertain themselves with songs
and stories, the Argentine comes forward again and tells the tale of
a similar strike back home.
As more of the Argentine's story unfolds, the parallel plights of the
American and Argentine workers play out side by side.
While the Americans struggle to keep their factory occupation from
becoming politicized, the Argentine strike is deeply political. In
the end, both the American and Argentine Workers are victorious, but
which resolution will ultimately keep the power in the Workers' hands?
Wilma Bonet directs Rotimi Agbabiaka, Velina Brown, Lisa Hori-Garcia,
Maggie Mason, Brian Rivera and Michael Gene Sullivan in this modern
song and tango about politics in the workplace, written by Michael
Gene Sullivan with music and lyric by Pat Moran. Additional dialogue
contributed by Ellen Callas.
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