The Workers' Theater Project

Empowering workers by creating great theater

The Workers’ Theater Project creates original performances for and about working people. We produce original plays like our upcoming production of 1877 by Colin McLaughlin, about the St. Louis General Strike of 1877, and our recent radio play, Mrs. Palmer’s Honey by Cassandra Medley, about the home front struggles of Black St. Louisans to gain the right to defense jobs during World War II.

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Lacy is trying to juggle it all – her kids, her full-time job, and a mother in the early stages of dementia. Some days she manages, and other days it all feels like too much. Her kids need her care, her mom needs her care – but who’s taking care of Lacy? When Lacy finds a support group for caregivers, she discovers a community of people with their own unique stories of the challenges and the joys of caring for other people.

The Caregiving Project by Bread & Roses Missouriaims to highlight the lack of caregiving support in the workforce and the profound impact thishas on caregivers, especially women. While caregiving can be rewarding, it is often unpaid and undervalued, leading to significant personal and economic challenges. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that the U.S. economy loses up to $840 billion annually in economic output due to the suppression of women in the labor force caused by the lack of caregiving support.

The Caregiving Project: Who's Taking Care of Momma? is supported and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arts & Education Council's Arts and Healing Initiative, and the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission.

For tickets to our August 2-3 performances at the Shakespeare Festival Rehearsal Hall: https://cur8.com/projects/25728

Interested in bringing a performance of The Caregiving Project to your community? The production is available to tour throughout the Fall of 2024. Contact info@breadandrosesmo.org to inquire.

Past Workers Theater Projects:

1877

In post-Civil War St. Louis industry is booming, but workers aren’t getting a fair deal from the bosses. Longshoreman Jonah must decide–join the growing strike, or stay on the job so he can continue to provide for his younger sister Eleanor, the only family he’s got right now.

1877  by St. Louis playwright Colin McLaughlin depicts the incredible true story of the St. Louis General Strike of 1877, the only strike of its kind to happen in the United States before or since.

Told with six actors playing dozens of characters and featuring music from the era, 1877 reveals an important and largely untold history of St. Louis and the Labor Movement that still resonates today.

Get tickets here:  https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/76328

Jailbird by Colin McLaughlin

In November 2019, Bread and Roses presented the premiere of Jailbird, an original play based on a true story of Eugene V. Debs at Missouri History Museum. In 1920, Eugene Victor Debs ran a campaign for the US presidency- from a federal prison cell. He was imprisoned for his outspoken objection to the violence and chaos of WWI. Debs ended up receiving a million votes, and 100 years later, his revelations on our society, economy, prison system, and the nature of war, are strikingly relevant.

Jailbird played to capacity crowds and received excellent reviews.

Mrs. Palmer’s Honey by Cassandra Medley, adapted from the novel by Fannie Cook.

It is well known that, During World War Two, American women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers as widespread male enlistment left gaping holes in the industrial labor force. However, what is little known is the home front struggles that African American women and men undertook to gain the right to those defense jobs. This is a struggle that sparked what would become the contemporary American civil rights movement of the 20th century.

In St. Louis Missouri, circa 1943, 23 year old house maid Honey Hoop is drawn into such a struggle despite her determination to avoid trouble . . .

Originally scheduled for 2020 as a live stage production, Mrs. Palmer’s Honey made a pandemic pivot and was recorded as a radio play aired on KDHX. Find it at KDHX.org or on Spotify.