The Trinity Repertory Theater, which is the official theater of Rhode Island, chooses wisely in selecting the two plays for the "Fall Rep: The American Dream, Then and Now" series that is kicking off the 2017-18 season of that primary source for cultural in the Ocean State capital city. This series runs through November 26, 2017.
Virtually everyone with any high school experience knows the Arthur Miller classic "Death of a Salesman." The rep. is presenting this (soon-to-be-reviewed) drama in tandem with the modern play "Skeleton Crew" by Detroit playwright Dominque Morisseau.
"Crew" is somewhat reminiscent of the much lighter 2004-05 Britcom "The Smoking Room," which is set in the break room of a British company and consists of working stiffs and their manager discussing their amusing trials and tribulations while sniping with each other. Our crew is from 2008 and congregates in the lunch room of the last independent auto stamping plant in Detroit.
50-something smoker Faye is the center of the crew; she is a 29-year veteran of the line and a solid UAW supporter. She also is the mother hen to the 20-something "kids" who make up the rest of the characters.
The highly sympathetic Shanita is a 25 year-old pregnant single woman with a quiet nature and an exceptional work ethic that includes working extensive overtime without complaint despite being at least in the second trimester of her pregnancy.
Shanita gets one of the best monologs in a scene in which she is discussing a job opportunity with Faye; the relatively new hire expresses the pride that she feels in contributing to manufacturing a car.
Shanita is an odd mix of sister/potential love interest to angry young man Dez, who is biding his time in the plant until he has enough money to open a car repair shop. He sadly fits the stereotype of a blue-collar black man in that he is no stranger to crime and violence.
One of the memorable moments in which Dez literally and figuratively takes center stage is an exchange with Faye about the value of the union. Dez expresses resentment regarding literally paying union dues arguing that that organization does not provide him any significant benefit.
An irate Faye responds in a manner that clearly uses the union as an analogy for the civil rights movement that that young punk has no idea about the "dues" that his elders paid to provide him the working conditions that he enjoys. She adds that that youngster is oblivious regarding the hardships associated with a highly contentious strike.
This trio reports to foreman Reggie, who literally owes his job to Faye. This clean-cut high school dropout is high enough on the corporate ladder to provide his family a home in a safe neighborhood. The concern of this boss for his workers comes through in an early scene in which he brings a space heater from home to help warm the break room; his telling the workers that the electrical system cannot handle using both the heater and the microwave has equal symbolic value.
The central conflict of "Crew" relates to Reggie confiding in Faye that the plant is due to close. Faye ultimately decides that her loyalty to surrogate son Reggie is stronger than her obligation to the union in agreeing to respect his confidence.
This exchange also illustrates the conflicting loyalty of any good plant foreman; this man or woman typically works his or her way up with the people whom he or she now manages yet both owes the executive leadership loyalty and wants to continue the salary and the other benefits associated with a supervisory position.
The scene to which virtually every adult audience strongly relates has Faye (who does not yet have word of the closing) and Shanita discuss their invulnerability to a layoff. Faye notes that she has seniority and can perform many assembly line jobs; Shanita points out that she is one of the hardest working employees.
The fact alone that many people share the same reasonable confidence as Faye and Shanita only to find themselves out of a job should make the exchange one of the ones with the greatest impact in "Crew." The real-life experience that former top advertising Michael Gates Gill documents in his 2007 book "How Starbucks Saved My Life" shows that no one is safe.
Well-connected Yale graduate Gill is a 25-year veteran of an ad agency whose long hours, constant travel, and even hopping on a plane at the last minute one Christmas provide confidence of continued employment until he is fired apparently merely simply because he is in his early 50s. We meet Gill a decade after that trauma as a virtually unemployed man with no health insurance and a serious medical condition. The title of his book provides a strong clue regarding the nature of his second career.
On a larger level, the warnings of economists that virtually every American must reduce his or her lifestyle by 50 percent dates back roughly 10 years. It is becoming very true for many of us today.
These upbeat notes are ending on inviting anyone with questions or comments regarding "Crew" either to email me or to connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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