September 23, 2009

Up Next...

Hey everybody,

We're getting the band back together and working on our next show!

It's going to be part of the 10 year anniversary celebration of the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE).

Here's a link to the event:
BUILDING POWERFUL BRIDGES:
Community, Faith and Labor For a Just Economy




Last show, we took you back in time to Oakland in 1946, and now with this show we'll be leaping forward into the future of the East Bay in the year 2049!!!

Come see our show, hear an amazing speaker (Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins from Green For All), and support an amazing organization in our community!

Also, here is a link to an article about our last show on Art Topic, and below is the text from the front page story that the Oakland Tribune wrote on December 8, 2008. (The Tribune doesn't seem to have permalinks for their stories, and I can't remember the name of the reporter, so please tell us if you know who it is and we'll credit you!)

Solidarity,
The Oakland 46ers

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Theatre group tells labor struggle story

OAKLAND -- A crew of labor organizers and artists turned Latham Square into a stage Sunday afternoon, armed with a wardrobe of 1940s style clothing, some historical research and a cause of labor solidarity.

The performance, called "Oakland 1946!," told the true story of a retail workers' strike, organized on that exact site, that eventually ballooned into a general labor strike, shutting down the city for two days. The audience of about 100 people was actively brought into the show. Some were given picket signs and drawn into a dance of celebration.

The Boss, a vaudeville villain and oppressor of the poor played by UC Davis theater professor Larry Bogad, drew hearty boos and hisses from the crowd, pulling up a volunteer to kneel on the ground and act as his footrest as he pretended to call city officials and get police to help him break a picket line.

When a father in the audience held up his infant child and the kid blew a loud raspberry at Bogad, he turned, raised an eyebrow, grabbed the cigar from his mouth and said, "Just what I need. A Zapatista baby."

Director and labor organizer Max Bell Alper said the idea was to take the passion of a successful historical strike "and bring it to life on-site.''

"We wanted to make it as engaging as possible so people will remember this, and then connect it to current struggles," he said.

Three current labor struggles took the stage as the historical story came to a close.

Manuel Rivas, an Oakland truck driver speaking to the crowd through a Spanish translator, said he's worked at the Port of Oakland for 22 years, often having to work difficult 12-hour shifts, and that misconceptions about trucker pay have made the cause more difficult.

"We do get large gross pay, but we have very high expenses so the net is very low," he said. "With respect to people who work in McDonald's and fast-food restaurants, we don't even take home as much as them."

Rivas said he gets no benefits, vacation time or sick pay, and the next step he and his colleagues are fighting for is to gain employee status, as they are currently considered independent contractors and are therefore unable to unionize.

Speakers for local hotel laborers and city employees also told of their labor struggles. As the show ended and the cast began mingling with the crowd, many people spoke of President-elect Barack Obama's support for the Employee Free Choice Act, which supporters say would make it easier to form unions, and a general sense of hope Obama's election has given them.

"I can't imagine this event happening six months ago," 19-year- old Oakland resident Gabriel Vieira said. "It would have sounded silly.

"I loved how (the performance) started with this fascinating historical story, and they brought it all the way up to the present. A lot of this stuff is still happening."

The cast and speakers asked the audience to spread the word and attend several upcoming labor events, such as a Dec. 18 march for hotel workers from The Crowne Plaza to the Holiday Inn in Concord and an Emeryville City Council meeting on Dec. 15 where hotel employees hope to settle a back-pay dispute with the Woodfin Suites.

Alper said the cast and crew hope to organize more site-specific performances, but nothing is planned right now. Updates and more information are available at www.oakland1946.blogspot.com.

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