DUE TO SCHEDULING CONFLICTS, THIS EVENT IS CANCELLED. WE ARE SORRY FOR THE TROUBLE AND HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US FOR ANOTHER CONVERSATION SOON.

THE CRADLE WILL ROCK

Monday, March 4, 2019, 7pm

THE CRADLE WILL ROCK, directed by Orson Welles, was premiered in 1937 by the Federal Theatre Project. It was one of the first pro-union musicals written and staged in the U.S. The play, created amidst the wave of sitdown strikes in the auto, steel, and rubber industries, not only spoke directly to workers’ experiences. Its first production became legendary because, just before opening night, the company received word that budget cuts would prevent the show from opening and the artists were padlocked out of the building. In a historic display of the show must go on, the company and audience marched 20 blocks to a theater that the company had secured, along with a rented piano, and the show did go on.

Thirteen years ago, Frank Theatre staged an unforgettable production in the then unoccupied Sears building on Lake Street, during the AFSCME 3800 clerical workers’ strike. It became a powerful part of the strikers’ self-understanding. What might it mean to remount this historic play in March 2019? Join Artistic Director Wendy Knox and cast members for a conversation about the ways that theater has told workers’ stories. (And find out how you can get discounted tickets!)

Frank Theatre’s production of THE CRADLE WILL ROCK will run from March 15 to April 7 at the Gremlin Theater at 550 Vandalia Street.

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East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier Street
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[email protected] and 651-230-3294