Theatre of the Unemployed

Theatre of the Unemployed’s style varied but our philosophy was to involve people directly affected by an issue in writing and performing the plays. Don Orr Martin’s short trailer is the start of a longer project about Theatre of the Unemployed.

The Emma Goldman Collective began in 1974–the founders of Theatre of the Unemployed. We lived in a 100-year-old Victorian house in Olympia, Washington. This was a “family portrait” offered through a coupon deal from a local photographer who was surprised by our outlandish appearance.

L-R: Maggie Simms, Tina Nehrling, Will Campbell, Don Martin, Beth Harris, Grace Cox

Poster for The Ode to CETA or the Ms-Adventures of Betty Lou Toughluck. The original play criticized the federal US employment program at the time (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) and was performed outside at lunchtime for government workers on the state capital grounds. 

The set for Ode to CETA was built on a structure with different levels. There was a clothesline that went from the top to the bottom crossing each level of bureaucracy. As we sang the old song We’re in the Money a dollar bill was clipped on by Congress at the top and each office or agency cut off a chunk until very little was left for the unemployed people at the bottom. 

Poster for That’s Agribiz, an original play that examined the rapidly monopolizing food industry in the 1970s. Three story lines involved the corporation U and Me Sugar; migrant farmworker organizers; and consumers. We wrote new words to the songs That’s Entertainment (That’s Agribusiness) and Food Glorious Food from the musical Oliver!

The corporate board of U and Me Sugar singing That’s Agribusiness. The easily-transported set was a frame holding 3-sided rotating panels showing the corporate office, the farmworkers clinic, and a grocery store aisle. We travelled to community centres, parks, churches, and grange halls.

Poster for the play Interview: A Fugue for 8 Actors by Jean-Claude van Itallie, which employed masks and dealt with interviewing for a job. The original short piece accompanying it was based on stories from working-class oral historian Studds Terkle.

Evergreen: Once Over Lightly was an improvisational play lampooning the famous experimental Evergreen State College. We were students there and were frustrated by the curriculum planning process that left out the student voice. After the performance the student body rose up and shut down the college for 3 days in protest. They held teach-ins and ultimately reformed the curriculum planning process.

Poster for the original play Ellen’s Box about the sexist socialization that women experience growing up.

Poster for Manifesto by Italian feminist Dacia Maraini about gender politics, women’s freedom, and oppression in modern society.

Poster for A Woman Is Talking to Death. This was an experimental theatre piece using a poem by lesbian feminist Judy Grahn dealing with racism and homophobia. It was multimedia, using narration, sound effects, projected images, and stylized choreography.

Poster for Dial M for Monopoly or You Can’t Call Kansas Toto, an original play about Bell Telephone which was a corporate monopoly back in the 1970s. Our musical was based on the plot and songs of the Wizard of Oz. Phone company employees helped us write it. Dorothy is an unemployed single mom who gets a job at a directory assistance operator. The Scarecrow is a lineman who is fired and stranded on a telephone pole, the Tin Man is an elderly woman who relies on (but can’t afford) her phone service, the Cowardly Lion is a Communications Worker Union boss, and the Wizard is the Utilities Commission.

Poster for a series of short children’s plays written in workshops with kids. They deal with topics bullying, parental divorce, and how boys and girls are treated differently.

Poster for the Sound Before the Fury an original play about the inhumanity and racism of US prisons and the death penalty. We went into the maximum-security prisons in Walla Walla and Purdy and wrote this play with men and women incarcerated there. It was very controversial. In the process of writing it some of our members were arrested (but never charged) for stirring up trouble within the violent and sexist subculture of these corruptly run institutions.