The Joe Hill Road Show and After Party
Featuring the Shelby Bottom Duo
A performative telling of the story of Joe Hill, a union organizer, activist, and musician who was framed for murder.
Click here to get your tickets!
When: Sunday, March 10th at 3:00p.m.
Doors (and Cash Bar) Open at 2:30
Reception Follows Performance until 7:00 p.m.
Where: Gaslight Theater 358 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, MO 63108
Admission: $10
About the Show: Nashville’s Shelby Bottom Duo joins Bread & Roses Missouri to tell the story of labor activist and songwriter Joe Hill and the early U.S. labor movement. Joe Hill was executed in 1915…but not before he fanned the flames of labor discontent with his songs. Regarded as anthems of the IWW labor union (the Wobblies), Joe’s songs live on, influencing generations of social and political protest music. Join us to hear his story told through spoken word, historical images, and some new-fashioned, old-time music!
The 2019 Workers’ Opera
New and revised music, skits, and sketches about laborers, unions, and workers’ rights in the past and present.
Click here to get your tickets!
When: Monday, March 11th at 8:00p.m.
Doors (and Cash Bar) Open at 2:30
Where: Gaslight Theater 358 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, MO 63108
Admission: $10
About the Show: The Workers’ Theater group gives voice to the rich history and contemporary struggle for living wages and fair working conditions (bread) along with dignity and artistic expression (roses).
The performers are workers-turned-actors and members of the movement itself, who have successfully entertained, educated and activated audiences on key issues such as raising the minimum wage and cleaning up government. Their performances commemorate the rich history of the labor movement, while celebrating social justice and solidarity with the arts.
They have wowed thousands across Missouri, at venues large and small, from our House Party series, to Union Halls, the Missouri History Museum and the Grand Center’s Theatre Crawl. Thanks to MOVE, the Missouri Organizing and Voter Engagement Collaborative, we have taken the show on the road to Columbia and Kansas City, Missouri.
Each season brings an inspired rendition of the Workers’ Opera revamped and remixed, including some of the original cast as well as new additions, new poems, new music, dance and movement, historical reenactments and many new stories. The 2019 Workers’ Opera is directed by Kathryn Bentley and features music by Colin McLaughlin.
Coming soon…..
Mark your calendar for Saturday, May 4, 2019, from 9 am until 3 pm. The Missouri Historical Society’s Discovery Bus Tour featuring St. Louis’ Labor History will be led by Joan Suarez, Executive Director of Bread and Roses Missouri.
Don’t miss the debut of Jailbird written by Colin McLaughlin and directed by Kathryn Bentley. The play is a dramatization of the 1920 presidential campaign of Eugene V. Debs, an outspoken labor organizer and socialist leader who won a million votes from his jail cell. Date TBA.
