October 20, 2003 - Live on Stage! Six Women in Labor explores the lives of six Northeastern, Pennsylvania women, three present and three past, who played an important role in the labor movement of the region. The hour-long play will be presented at King’s College on Sunday, Oct. 26, at 3 p.m. in the Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center between North Main and North Franklin streets. A panel discussion follows the performance.

The play by Maureen McGuigan brings local social history to life in a story that focuses on a contemporary nursing strike while also reflecting on the region’s industrial past. The plot follows the struggles of Chris, a nurse and head of the local nursing union, as she faces a possible strike if a new contract is not negotiated. During the course of the play she meets two other women who have faced similar situations in the garment industry. She also has imaginary conversations with Min Matheson, a labor organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in Luzerne County; Elizabeth Lynett, writer for the Scranton Times who went undercover to report on sweatshops; and Mrs. G.W. Brown, an African American woman who ran a trucking company during the 1920s and ’30s.

Directed by Alicia Grega-Pikul, the cast features Alika Hope as Mrs. G.W. Brown, Joan Johnson as Fran, Julie Lanard-Newbury as Josephine, Anna Kilcullen as Elizabeth Lynett, Angel Berlane as Min Matheson, and Ellen O’Brien as Chris.

The panel discussion following the performance brings together labor experts as well as those who have had experience in the industries and will be moderated by Dr. Jean O’Brien, founder of the Human Resources Management Program at King’s College. Lois Hartel of Unite!; Dr. Paul Zbiek of the King’s College history department; Sandra Solovey, former president of the Wyoming Valley Nurses Association; and Rev. Patrick Sullivan, C.S.C., of King’s College Public Policy and Social Research Institute. Dr. Margarita Rose, King’s College Women’s Studies Program coordinator, helped organize the production and panel discussion for presentation to Luzerne County audiences at King’s College.

In addition to the Sunday October 26, 3 p.m., presentation at King’s Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center, Live on Stage! Six Women in Labor will be performed on Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Scranton Cultural Center. The performances are free and open to the public.