DC LaborFest Today
Friday, May 2, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)A free noontime screening of
"Fasanella," an award-winning
filmabout Ralph
Fasanella (left) --
“the best primitive painter
since Grandma Moses” – kicks off today’s
DC LaborFest
offerings. Thenat 5p
today, Elizabeth
Warren, the senior United States
Senator from Massachusetts, discusses her inspiring
life story in
her new memoir, “A Fighting
Chance,” also at the
AFL-CIO (free but space is limited
and RSVPs
required). And
at 6:30p, American Art
Museum curator Leslie Umberger will host a
free discussion with Marc
Fasanella (Ralph’s son), at the opening of a
major exhibit of Ralph
Fasanella’s paintings at the Museum.
COMING
UP:
Happy Birthday Pete
Seeger: Joe Uehlein performs
his Birthday Tribute to
Pete Seeger Saturday night starting
at 7:30p at Zed’s
in Silver Spring.
Kids at
Work: Brother Hal and Sweet Joan of the
Textile Mills, two
labor-themed plays performed by
young actors debut on Saturday& Sunday, at
the Round House Theatre in Silver Spring. Brother
Hal sets
Shakespeare's Henry V in a Flint auto plant
in the 1930’s, while Sweet Joan of the
Textile Mills adapts Bertolt Brecht to examine the
plight of child
labor; both plays feature young actors from the
Lumina Studio Theatre. Tickets
required; click on the appropriate play for
details.
Salt of the
Earth: Originally
banned by the U.S. government and now
recognized by the Smithsonian as among “the
greatest 100 films ever made,” this
classic 1954 film – which tells the story of
Mexican-American workers who
strike to attain wage parity with Anglo workers
and explores the pivotal role
their wives play in the strike -- celebrates
its 60th anniversary 7:30p Monday night at the American Film Institute in Silver
Spring (tickets
necessary). Introduced by Tom Zaniello,
author of “Working Stiffs,
Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Organized
Guide to Films About Labor” and
includes DC Labor FilmFest t-shirt
raffle!
Ongoing: Rivera's "Man At The
Crossroads": The
Mexican Cultural
Institute hosts a fascinating exhibit
reconstructing the history of Diego
Rivera's famous “Man at the Crossroads”
mural at Rockefeller Center, tracing
its history with reproductions of previously
unpublished material, including
letters, telegrams, contracts, sketches, and
documents, following Rivera's
commission, subsequent tension and conflict,
and finally, the mural's
destruction. Daily through May
17.
Living
Out, comedic play by Lisa Loomer about
working mothers,
race, class and immigration status. Through May
18.