Director's Note
Like so many businesses and organizations, especially in the performing arts, the Port Tobacco Players have been shut down for more than a year. Those of us who love to bring live shows to our beloved audiences have not only been missing you – we have also been missing the creative outlet so many of us thrive on. The PTP Board of Directors has been looking for ways to stay connected to our community – and to prepare for the day when we can welcome everyone back inside our theater.
So when the PTP Board of Directors posed the question a few months ago, “Does anyone want to put on a virtual show?” I was excited for the chance to do it, to help “jump start” our return -- and this interesting and perhaps lesser-known musical came immediately to mind. With the focus during the past year-plus on workers whose professions are often out of the spotlight – such as truckers, elder care workers, delivery personnel, restaurant staff -- Working offered the chance to highlight how those people – and many others -- feel about what they do.
Although most of this show was written in the 1970s (with some updating in the early 2000s), many of the stories and messages of the REAL PEOPLE who told the stories of their REAL JOBS to Studs Terkel, the author of the book the show is based on, hold up more than 40 years later. Because many of these are jobs that will never go away – never be replaced by automation – never stop helping the world move forward.
In fact, the final song, “Something to Point To,” is a wonderful metaphor for the idea that while not every job has a tangible object or product that a worker can show off, everyone’s work has value and importance and is necessary to keep our world turning. I think we have all come to realize that more than ever before…
One of the true joys of directing this show is not only the diversity of occupations represented, but the diversity of the people who shared their stories. It has been a great pleasure – and a challenge – to make sure we did justice to these individuals, and did not turn them into caricatures or stereotypes. I think our team has pulled off that challenge. And I think this show demonstrates the incredible range of talent this community has! We hope that you see yourself, or someone you know, in at least one of these characters, and that something about one of them touches your heart. Until we are together again…
Virtually yours,
Ben Simpson
May 2021
