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The Triangle Factory Fire Project
By Christopher Peihler and Scott Alan Evans
Directed by Scott Alan Evans
WORLD PREMIERE
May 14 thru 29, 2004
The Clurman Theatre
Theatre Row
NYC
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| SYNOPSIS |
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 took the lives of 146 workers, most of whom were young women immigrants between the ages of 13 and 23. This tragedy was among the worst industrial fires in New York City history, but its aftermath was even more shocking. Beyond the very dramatic human story, and the historical, political and social ramifications that resulted from this seminal event the play explores the continuing modern day concerns of corporate greed and responsibility and the moral and ethical issues surrounding the question, ?what is the value of a human life?? The Triangle Factory Fire Project uses eyewitness accounts, court transcripts and other archival material to create a dramatic moment-by-moment account of this historic fire and the social upheaval that followed. It culminates in the manslaughter trial of the owners, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, whose shocking acquittal inspires new outrage across New York and the entire country, the repercussions of which shaped social, political and economic policies for decades to come. By using real words spoken by real people, from Ukrainian seamstresses to millionaire Fifth Avenue socialites, The Triangle Factory Fire Project paints a heartbreakingly clear picture of a disastrous day in American history, and explores the human toll such a tragedy takes on us all.
?Electrically directed by Scott Alan Evans, and dynamically acted by the whole company, it is one of the theatre events of the season. Everyone involved does a brilliant job in this searing play, which reminds us why theatre exists.?
Doug Lyons/New York Post
?A good play is a wonderful distraction. A great play tugs at your emotional core. A truly great play does all that and also affects its audience by triggering memories and influencing one?s view of events. The Triangle Factory Fire is one of the plays that falls into the last category?
Karen Barrow/ Off-Off Online
?Delivers a true emotional punch.?
American Theatre Web
The creative pieces of this puzzle - cast, director, writer and designers - come together beautifully in a collaborative blaze of sadness, energy and poignancy. Once can only hope that 100 years from now we might have the same perspective on our own New York tragedy?
Katie Riegel/Broadway.com |
| CAST/CREW |
Jamie Bennett*
William Shepard, Isaac Harris, John Moore
Nora Chester*
Kate Alterman, Mary Alter, Mrs. O.H.P. Belmont
Francesca Di Mauro*
Bertha Schwartz, Rose Freedman, May Levantini
Kyle Fabel*
Charles Bostwick, William Bernstein, Frank Sommer
Rachel Fowler*
Margaret Schwartz, Dinah Lifschitz, Judge C.T. Crain, Ida Mittleman
Kelly Hutchinson*
Ethel Monick, Yetta Lubitz, Rose Schneiderman
Timothy McCracken*
Sam Gompers, Max Blanck, Chief Edward Croker, Jury Foreman
James Murtaugh *
Samuel Bernstein, Officer John Meehan, Herman Hurwitz
Scott Schafer*
Max Schwartz, Abe Gordon, Eddie Markowitz, Max Steuer
*Members of Actors\' Equity Association
Costumes by David Toser
Lighting by Mary Louis Geiger
Sets by Mimi Lien
Sound by Daryl Bornstein
Original music by Colin McGrath
Conceived & Directed by Scott Alan Evans
Dawn Dunlop*
Production Stage Manager
Aaron Wilton
Assistant Director
Leila Guenancia
Assistant Stage Manager
George Boras Production Supervisor |
| PUBLICATION |
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PUBLISHED SCRIPT AVAILABLE THROUGH THE DRAMATISTS PLAY SERVICE
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| PRESS |
In 1911 a fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in downtown Manhattan's Asch Building at the... [ read more]
American Theatre Web
On its own, Christopher Piehler?s The Triangle Factory Fire Project would be a potent retelling of... [ read more]
Curtain Up.com
Combining a great tragedy and a headline making courtroom trial makes for a heady mix for using the... [ read more]
New York Daily News
Political reality is certainly a subject our theater should deal with more often ? and more... [ read more]
Playbill.com
The Actors Company Theatre, the Off-Broadway troupe known as TACT, takes a break from its... [ read more]
New York Theatre Wire
Playwright Christopher Piehler used personal witness accounts to give firsthand authenticity and... [ read more]
Wolf Entertainment Guide
Every time I pass the plaque on the New York University building at Greene Street and Washington... [ read more]
New York Post
On March 25, 1911, fire ripped through the top three floors of the Asch building, at Washington... [ read more]
New York Theatre Wire
THE TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE PROJECT [****]
Playwright Christopher Piehler?working with the ensemble... [ read more]
Offoffonline.com
A good play is a wonderful distraction. A great play tugs at your emotional core. A truly great play... [ read more]
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| DRAMATURGY |
In 1911, The Triangle Waist Company was the largest shirtwaist company in New York City. During its peak season, it could produce upwards of 2,000 garments a day, resulting in a million dollars in sales per year and making its owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, extremely wealthy. In fact, the Triangle was just one of a group of factories owned by Harris & Blanck.
The factory occupied the top three floors of the Asch Building - a ten story loft structure located at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Streets, just east of Washington Square Park. Considered at the time to be among the most up-to-date and modern of factories, Triangle employed as many as 500 workers a day, the vast majority of whom were young immigrant women. They functioned as finishers and button punchers, pressers and lace inserters, runners and bookkeepers, but the majority were sewing machines operators. Row upon row of them.
On the eighth floor were the cutters who skillfully placed the waist patterns on the layers of lawn piled thick on the cutting tables. They used special knives to cut through the fabric and create the pieces to be sewn into garments. The cutters were all men and they were at the top of the pecking order. A skilled cutter could demand the highest wages. Also on the eighth floor were five long tables of sewing machines and the finishing tables where lace was inserted into the shirtwaists and the threads clipped. Around 200 workers worked on the eighth floor.
On the ninth floor in the back towards the air shaft were the examining tables. The rest of the space was devoted to the sewing machines. Eight long 75 foot tables stretched across the loft space. Each table held about 30 machines and the women sat along the tables side by side working from 7:30 in the morning until 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening (later during the busy season). Large wicker baskets full of the never ending stacks of pieces they were to fit together were crowded between their chairs. The girls sitting furthest down the rows were literally trapped in by the crowding. If one had to get out during the day (there was only one half hour meal break) she had to climb over her fellow workers, the chairs, and the baskets. Talking was not allowed during work time and the floorladies and the foremen would see to it that the workers followed the rules and kept their production up. Because of the flood of immigrants pouring into the country at this time there was a never ending supply of willing workers. Those who didn?t behave were quickly dismissed. About 250 workers worked on the ninth floor.
On the tenth floor were the pressing, packing, and the shipping departments and the administrative offices. Mr. Blanck and Mr. Harris had their own offices. The showroom where the Triangle salesmen would occasionally stop by to pick up the latest samples or bring a particularly important buyer, was located in the brightest corner of the floor where Washington Place and Greene Street met. Around 60 workers worked on the tenth floor.
Although life at the Triangle was grueling, many of the women who worked there found a way of making the best of it. They liked the fact that they were among their own set and had a certain sense of independence. And the wages they made often meant the difference between survival and destitution for their families.
Saturday, March 25, 1911. 4:45 PM. In the Triangle Waist Factory off downtown Manhattan\'s Washington Square ? where 500 immigrant workers from Poland, Russia and Italy toil 14-hour days making lady\'s dresses ? a cigarette is tossed into a bin of fabric scraps. Despite desperate efforts, flames sweep through the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. Panic-stricken workers run in all directions. On the ninth floor, some make it to the fire escape, only to have it collapse beneath their weight. Others run to the exit door but find it locked ? many, including the soon-to-be-married Margaret Schwartz, die with their hands on the doorknob. Dozens leap from the windows to their deaths, shocking the crowd of onlookers gathered below. And some, by a combination of bravery and sheer luck make it out alive. In the space of twenty-eight minutes, the fire is under control, but 146 people, mainly young immigrant girls, have died. |
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