Stage West kicks off 2023 Reader’s Theatre performance series
Stage West continues its second full season of performances and special events with Nickel and Dimed by Joan Holden, adapted from the best-selling novel, Nickel and Dimed, On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. Two performances are planned at 7:30 pm for April 20-21 at West Fargo’s Thunder Coffee. The show is being presented in a reader’s theatre format (limited staging, scripts in hand)–the first in a series of three reader’s theatre productions planned in Stage West’s 2023 season.
In 1998, acclaimed author Barbara Ehrenreich set out to research low-wage life firsthand, confident she was prepared for the worst. Very quickly, she discovered that no job is truly “unskilled,” and that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort. She also learned that one job is not enough; you need at least two if you want to live indoors. Ehrenreich’s experience, detailed in her vivid and witty best-selling novel, revealed low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity.
Joan Holden’s stage adaptation navigates the plight of the working middle class–those whose reality is life in a low-paying, dead-end job with no way out–through the lens of Barbara working as a hotel maid making $7 an hour. In conversations with her co-workers and others, there is humor, heart, and strength to be found in their shared struggles. The play shows us the life one-third of working Americans now lead and makes us angry that anyone should have to live it.
Stage West’s production features Katie Burington, Mary Cochran, Jack Chudy, Tara Gravelle, Rick Mangahas, and Grace Morton. It is directed by Emma Beyer.
Nickel and Dimed will be performed on April 20 & 21 at 7:30 p.m. The production is being hosted at Thunder Coffee, 300 Sheyenne St #190, West Fargo, ND. Come early to enjoy coffee creations, wine, or cocktails prior to the performance.
Tickets are available online at westfargoevents.com, by calling 701-532-1793, or at the door starting 30 minutes before each performance. All tickets will be sold using Pay What You Will pricing with a donation of $10 suggested. Seating is limited to only 40 people per show.
