Lucy Parsons Drama in Coral Gables, Florida
By: Beau Higgins Feb. 25, 2006
Melody Cooper's DAY OF RECKONING at New Theatre
March 3 - March 26, 2006New Theatre at 4120 Laguna Street, Coral Gables, Florida 33146Tickets: 305 443 5909Thursday March 2 - Preview. 8 p.m. Tickets $20
Friday March 3 - Subscribers and Donors' pre-opening celebration at
8 p.m.Tickets (for non-subscribers) are $55 and include a pre-show buffet,
open wine bar, and an informal post-play reception with the cast and
playwright.Sunday February 26 - Performance at 1 pm followed by a post show
talk-back with the playwright, director and staff.Remaining performances: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.
and Sundays at 1 p.m and 5:30 pm. (No 5:30 pm performance on March 5
or Feb. 26) Ticket prices for all performances: Thursdays - $30; Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays - $40; Student Rush -
$10For more details please visit their website at
http://www.new-theatre.org Directed by Ricky J. Martinez With Brandon Morris (Albert, Jr.), Keith Cassidy (Albert Parsons,
Sr.), Karina Fernandez and Tara Vodihn (Lucy Cooper)
Sound design: Nathan Rausch, Costume design: Estela Vrancovich
Production stage manager: Kathryn Tomlinson About the actors and production team
Brandon Morris (Albert, Jr.), Keith Cassidy (Albert Parsons, Sr.)
and Tara Vodihn (Lucy Cooper) have all appeared at New Theatre in
recent seasons, while young Karina Fernandez, who plays the Parson's
little girl, makes her New Theatre debut in this production. Jesse
Dreikosen and Estela Vrancovich are resident designers at New
Theatre, while Nathan Rausch has been the sound designer of several
past productions at New Theatre and Patrick Tennent will be making
his New Theatre debut as lighting designer for this production. About the play
Spanning the years between the end of the Civil War and the start of
the explosive labor movement in 1880's Chicago, the life of an inter-
racial couple: Lucy and Albert Parsons, is a cautionary tale about
the curbing of political freedom.
African American, Native American, and Mexican ancestry, and was
born in Texas around 1853. Her parents were slaves. Around 1870,
while living with another man, Lucy met Albert Parsons, who would
soon become her husband. In 1872 Lucy and Albert were forced to
leave Texas because of their interracial marriage. They moved to
Chicago, where Albert quickly found a job as a printer and became
involved in the labor movement.By 1886, people across the country were calling for an eight hour
work day, proclaiming, "whether you work by the piece or work by the
day, decreasing the hours increases your pay." As a result, 350,000
workers across the nation walked off their jobs to participate in a
general strike. That year a strike in Chicago became violent as
police fired into a crowd of unarmed workers, and many of them were
wounded and killed. At another labor meeting someone threw a bomb
that killed a police officer. Albert Parsons was one of eight men
accused of the bombing. Albert turned himself in to the police, and after a lengthy trial,
the men were sentenced to death. Lucy, stricken with both anger and
pride that her husband would die for his beliefs, headed a campaign
for clemency, but her efforts did not sway the courts. On November
11, 1887, Lucy brought her two children to see their father one last
time.Lucy Parsons was active in social and unionist causes until her
death. She was a woman of action and strong words and well ahead of
her time.
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