Originally conceived under the title "Working Girls", "The Worker Must Have Bread, but She Must Have Roses Too" is a devised play about the garment workers who were witness to the most catastrophic industrial disaster in the US before 9/11, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911. The play combines fiction with extracts of the court case, interviews of the survivors, and movement pieces that speak for the voiceless victims of an event that forever changed American History.
Honoring the women who sacrificed their lives for the cost of today's safer working conditions and workers rights, an all-immigrant-female cast relives their stories delivering singing and multilingual performances glowing with devotion to their craft and its possibilities. The multifaceted ensemble includes internationally acclaimed young talents such as Irina Bravo, Siw Laurent, Marianly Tejada, Jatnna Marte, Gilda Mercado and Yessi Hernandez.
The play has previously been workshopped at The Bridge Theater (NY) and has been selected to be part of the new season of The Barn Arts Collective. The piece will be performed at The Barn (130 Tremont Rd. (Route 102) Bass Harbor, ME 04653) on Saturday, August 11th at 7pm. Tickets are now available here.
"This piece is a collective labor of love dedicated to all those searching for their place in the world, to all those who have been or are currently denied quality of life in the name of big business or institution, those whose lives and family members have been unjustly lost as a result of a lack of producer and consumer ethics, and to the women of the Triangle Waist Company." - Ayla McCarthy Combes.
Ayla McCarthy Combes is a New York City based writer, director and actor from Norfolk, VA. She has had the privilege of studying in some of the most prestigious drama schools around the world such as The Royal Academy Of Dramatic Arts or the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. She has a BA in Language and Literature from Pace University where she received the Distinguished Literary Scholar of Dyson School Award for Excellence. Works include: Julie Orlicks' "Very Bauhaus" (The Exponential Festival at The Glove, NYC), Phoebe in "As You Like It" (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), and the work-in-progress "The Worker Must Have Bread, but She Must Have Roses Too" (The Bridge Theater, NYC).
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