September 28th at 6:30pm
Doors open at 6:00.
Recently unions and the issue of worker’s rights has been the subject of public discourse. This and the book “Working” by Studs Terkel were the inspiration for Luis Macia, the artist for the Work Project. The project highlights workers who share their stories and images with social realist artist Luis Macia culminating in an art exhibit of workers’ portraits accompanied by a live reading of their oral histories. The stories reflect the stark contrast of workers’ experience based on their union status.
One of the workers in the project is Pete who described a moment of desperation. “After days of double shifts I was exhausted and driving the truck wouldn’t be safe. When he (his boss) asked me to do another shift he just wouldn’t take no for an answer. He asked me why I couldn’t drive the truck for him. I told him ‘cause I don’t work here anymore.” This man was pushed to the point that he left his job without any back-up plan to support his disabled wife.
The exhibit and performance will be at the Bridge Street Theater, 44 West Bridge St., Catskill. The combination of arts, including visual and performance aspects, will provide a voice for frequently marginalized people. The show opening will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 28 with the performance at 6:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets, 800-838-3006, and are free. The show will be up through the Bridge Street Theater’s entire season which ends on Nov. 30. In addition to performance nights, the show may be viewed 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday by appointment. The Coxsackie-Athens Teachers’ Association is the community partner for this project.
For information, email the artist at luismaciastudio@gmail.com. This project is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by The Greene County Council on the Arts. Additional funding was received from a Wayne C. Speenburgh Greene County Legistlature Grant, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the Bank of Greene County and the Coxackie-Athens Teachers’ Association.