The Workers’ Opera
The Workers’ Opera is a live performance written and performed by workers, for workers. A combination of theater sketches, music, storytelling and humor, the Workers’ Opera is about the economic and social justice issues that impact working class people, in their own words.
Since originally conceived for Bread and Roses Missouri in 2015 by the late Agnes Wilcox and poet Freeman Word, the Workers’ Opera has become an annual event that has featured over 30 workers-turned-actors. Our actors are union members, organizers, fast-food workers, retail employees, Amazon warehouse workers and others who use their creativity to lift up the voices of workers and the economic and social justice issues that concern them.
Workers’ Opera topics have included the racist, harmful, and largely hidden history of Right To Work, and the effect it has on workers and their families; why Medicaid Expansion is vital to Missouri’s working poor; and why Amazon warehouse workers are fighting for safer working conditions at the world’s largest employer.
The Workers’ Opera has been performed in theatres, churches, union halls, at house parties and at the Grand Center Theater Crawl. It’s even gone on the road to Columbia and Kansas City.
Want to become a partner in creating the next Workers’ Opera in 2024? Contact Emily Kohring at director@breadandrosesmo.org and let’s talk!
Workers' Opera Documentary by filmmaker Kim Love Productions, LLC
Previous Workers’ Opera Artistic Teams
Agnes Wilcox and Freeman Word, 2015-2017
Kathryn Bentley and Colin McLaughlin, 2018-2021
Mariah Richardson and Delaney Piggins 2022
Mariah Richardson (director and writer) 2023
Previous Cast Members
John Antonich
Monica Bohlen
Theotis Bohlen
Georgia Brown-Moore
Ann Acklen Brown
Cody Burlson
Stacey Cowsette
Hassie Davis
Shannon Duffy
Sally Eaton
Kevin FitzGerald
Shatema Gholston-Byrd
Sonja Gholston-Byrd
Lee Hladky
Camese Johnson
Ash Judd
Arianna Kimbrough
Don McClendon
Jahna Kimil Moore
Noah Laster
Colin McLaughlin
Michael Paplanus
Antigone Chamber-Reed
Anthony Ringo
Holly Roe
Josyland Rucker
Rachel Sacks
Shelton Solafleur
Rohan Sherali
Carolyn Whitlock Dunn
Freeman Word
See and hear about us featured in the news!
Our Workers’ Theater Projects have earned news coverage, reviews and artist interviews on St. Louis Public Radio, The Labor Tribune, St. Louis Magazine, The Riverfront Times and more.