The unsung stories of the men and women during the 1960s will come to life April 28 through May 2 at Elon University with the Tony nominated musical, “Working.”
“Working,” originally staged in 1974, is based on a book by Studs Terkel, which he wrote after conducting interviews with hundreds of working men and women across the United States.
The show has undergone many revisions, most recently in 2011 with the addition of two songs by 2016 Pulitzer Prize-winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, writer for both “Hamilton” and “In the Heights.” Elon will be performing the most recent revision including Miranda’s additions.
“With this show — because of the nature of the beast, if you will — we began individual monologue work,” said director Lynne Formato, associate professor of performing arts. “Sometimes we start staging big company numbers, and we did do some of that. We staged the opening and middle section, but we started working a lot on the acting, because there are as many monologues in the show as there are songs. It’s a very different kind of review.”
The show consists of individual vignettes highlighting each character’s experience.
Each one varies in age and vocation, as do the actors who range from freshmen to seniors. Two faculty members, Polly Cornelius, senior lecturer in music, and Chip Johnson, assistant professor of theater, also have roles in the production.
“Honestly [it is] very difficult for an 18 to 21 year old person to try to be 60 years old. It’s just so hard to do,” Formato said. “You don’t want to go caricature with a show in the Black Box that’s right up in your face.”
Jack Smith, associate professor of performing arts, is designing both scenery and costumes in this production, which he has been doing for the MT Box, previously the New Musical Project, since its
inaugural year.
“[Smith] has just gone over above and beyond the call of duty every single year because he cares so much about the students,” Formato said.
Students are also involved with the behind-the-scene aspects of the production. Freshman Tres McMichael is assistant choreographer and has been helping Formato with the show.
“The show isn’t very ‘dancy-dancy’, its not like ‘A Chorus Line,’” McMichael said. “The one thing about ‘Working’ that’s very cool and unique is that it’s about real people. So, you’re not going to have people doing five pirouettes or jumping through the air, because that’s not what this show is about. The show is about who these people are and why they love what they do and why they do what they do.”
Formato said the biggest challenge with a show at this time of the year is finding time to get everything done and getting people to do it because of the finite amount of production students and faculty. But sometimes the challenges stretch beyond scheduling.
“How do you find a connection with a character that you’re much younger than, or that you’ve never had an understanding of the life that they live? How do you find that?” she asked.
Despite the struggle to find this balance, Formato loved watching the actors find a way to connect with each of the characters and build their background.
“We didn’t expect it but everyone in the show has had some sort of journey or breakthrough and has grown from the work that we have been doing,” Formato said. “There are some really emotional, touching moments in the show. There are moments that relate to things that are happening right now with the election I think there are characters that everyone will either relate to or recognize as someone they’ve seen in society or someone that exists in their family.”
“Working” will be performed in the Black Box in Scott Studios at Roberts Studio Theatre.