NIGHTLIFE MAGAZINE REVIEW 4/21/08
Nickel and Dimed by Ehrenreich/ Holden
By
Willy Rogue Donaldson
"Our lives are subsidized, the working poor are our
greatest anonymous donors." This line in
the play sums up a lot of what the real Barbara Ehrenreich wrote about in her
book "Nickel and Dimed", which Joan Holden adapted
into this play. Barbara is a character in the play. We see her
deciding to undertake the research for this book, her eighteenth as a
progressive and acclaimed journalist. She will take minimum wage jobs in
different areas of the country to see how people live on the low incomes. Her
boyfriend is not much support, he doesn't like being left at home.
Barbara packs a few clothes and a hidden credit card and takes off. Her
first job is as a waitress, which she thought would come easy as she did it
years before. That doesn't help, she's a newbie now, and of course it's
a busy morning and the order is delayed and not right and it begins in
disaster. And nothing seems to cover her expenses, but she does start to
teach an immigrant George how to read. Barbara is over fifty, and tries to
live on what she earns, but it's a hard go, scrambling for a room or a
roommate, not having medical coverage for simple medical problems, finding out
it is more expensive to be poor and tired and have to buy fast food with no
place to cook. She gets to know people in each job, see how they survive
(or don't), and how the spunk she has, has leaked away in the people she
meets, they seldom question the boss or the fairness of the system. They
just try to survive in the slots they're in, particularly if they're older. She
also works as a chambermaid in a motel, as a health care worker in a nursing
home (where she has a brief attraction to the cook, as they smoke in a
car). She works as one of a team of house cleaners, these "Magic
Maids" get paid very little compared to the per hour that goes to
management. Speed cleaning tips here, aprons with pockets. She goes to
Minneapolis to work in a Mallmart, she gets the job, but can't find a place to
live, rents are way high. She's a floor clerk (an "associate")
in women's clothing. She finds it is much more complicated than it looks
dealing with the clothes, re-racking the returns and misplaced. Plus
management is watching to see if you talk to others or slack off. Plus
the customers can be belligerent. Or just confused, like "Timid
Guy" with hair curl wheeling his shopping cart, he just wants to know
where the exit is. He comes through her department a number of times, No
Exit for him. He's just one shopper in The Dance of the Shopping Carts,
a jerky swirl of carts and shoppers madding the aisles around Barbara. She
does find a friend in Melissa, who works there also. Barbara becomes
more and more desperate in her search for housing, and finally Melissa invites
her to live with her and her husband, not an easy invitation. Barbara
wasn't expecting this, it suddenly puts an end to her odyssey, as she has to
tell Melissa who she is and what she is really doing. Melissa takes it
graciously, but is obviously hurt by this breach of new friendship and the
falseness of Barbara's position. Barbara has bound people she enjoys on this
journey, but she is not going to see or know them for long. She gets the
details and the experience of the injustice of the economic exploitation, but
doesn't expect long-term friendship, and is thrown when Melissa offers her
immediate help. She realizes that you can't play people like that -- she
had begun to believe in her own poverty and lost track of the dangers. Aside
from the vital social justice issues, there are many interesting people and
details presented. Smoking unites Barbara with a number of the people
she works with, it is a mild stimulant and a respite from the work
itself. She is horrified when she comes up with a used condom when
cleaning a room in the motel. We see some of the interviewing techniques
used when a boss tries to find a docile worker. All members of the cast play
multiple roles (except Barbara), which gives portraits of many different
characters in this low salaried world. The play focuses on the lives of
single women and the challenges they face. People with working partners
are likely to do better, and the singles or couples raising children aren't
examined in depth (obviously more expenses). A strong energetic cast propels
the play through its episodic stages, and from the back corners of the stage
to the front, Director Virginia Brannon has gotten the movement and clustering
of the actors to a very smooth resolve, it all looks easy but it probably
wasn't. And she filled in for cast member Arianna Boykins who was ill
the night I saw it, Brannon played the parts very well. The role of Barbara
was played by Moira A. Keenan, who highlighted the show and the authors.
She delivered the lines well, directly addressing the audience at times in
asides. The cast included the Magic Maids Jennifer Fitzery, Jessica Stuber,
Stephanie Dale, and Kelly M. Beuth. Beuth was particularly good at
playing older, for the part of Marge she walked as if frail with
arthritis. Jennifer Linch played Gail, Tom Izard played Pete, and Paul
O'Hern played the Editor. Afrim Gjonbalaj played the cook Hector, and my
compoanion Miss Delicious decided he could fry her up quite easily. He
recently returned from New Yokr City to play a lead in the musical HAIR at
Buff State, and the roles in this play. Leon S. Copleland played Philip
and other bosses quite effectively. Justin Fiordaliso played Timid Guy
sweetly bonkers, and busboy George overly blustery, adding good hustle in the
eatery scene. Jeannette Schneiderman Managed the House with her usual
flair. Fine Poster Design by Michael Klemm.
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