WAITING FOR LEFTY
May 1st, 2006
at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo

    For the fifth installment of our annual May Day Performance Series we were proud to present a staged reading of one of the greatest theatrical tributes to the struggles of working people ever written.
     Originally performed in 1935, WAITING FOR LEFTY by Clifford Odets is a One-Act Drama set amidst a Depression Era taxicab workers' union meeting.  As their meeting hall rings with heated debate on whether or not to go on strike, several union leaders attempt to sway the crowd by re-enacting moments from their personal lives that won them to the workers' movement.  The various vignettes that result are stirring, appalling, inspiring, and just as relevant to the situation of working people today as they were seven decades ago.
     Director Diane Cammarata chose to present our rendition as an interactive staged reading which treated the audience as though they were the actual rank-and-file of the union.  And so, for a little over an hour, the placid confines of the social hall of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo were transformed into a tempestuous union meeting wherein unsuspecting audience members were invited to chant, shout, heckle, and testify for the cause of their choice.
     This impassioned theatrical presentation was promptly followed by food, drink, and revelry generously provided by members of Subversive Theatre's Volunteers' Brigade.  The entire evening's events made for an extremely satisfying May Day experience and -- as always -- we were proud to be able to do our small part to help keep the tradition of May Day alive.
     This production could not have been possible without the exceptional work of the following cast, crew, and volunteers who made an invaluable contribution of their time, talents, and creativity -- thank you one and all: 

+ = members of the Actors' Equity Association
* = members of the Subversive Theatre Collective