DC LaborFest Today: Shakespeare in a Union Hall & The Mexican Revolution Comes to UMD
Saturday, May 10, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
ACTIVIST ALERT: NALC Food Drive
today! Also today: Metro Council Labor to Labor
Walks & Mother's March for
Justice
The DC LaborFest is a month-long celebration of
labor arts in the nation’s capital. Work, workers and their lives and issues
are explored through films, plays, poetry, music, art, literature and history
throughout the month of May. Events are free unless
otherwise noted; click here for the
complete line-up. Please pass along & post widely on social
media!
Fasanella FamilyFest
Brother Hal Sets Shakespeare in a Union Hall
The Mexican Revolution Comes to
UMD
COMING UP: AFL-CIO Book Club: "So Much to Do: The
Life of Business and Politics"; Film: Note By Note: The Making of Steinway
L1037
ONGOING: Art Exhibit: Ralph Fasanella: Lest
We Forget; Rivera's "Man At The Crossroads"; Living Out
PARENTS! Check out the Lest We Forget Mother's Day Family Festival today at the American Art Museum! Arts and crafts in the spirit of labor artist Ralph Fasanella, plus folk band the Knuckle Dusters and a puppet performance by Wits End Puppets! 11:30a-3p Saturday, May 10 at the American Art Museum (8th & F Streets NW, Kogod Courtyard); FREE. Part of the ongoing Ralph Fasanella: Lest We Forget exhibit.
Today/Tomorrow: Shakespeare in a Union
Hall: BROTHER HAL – today andtomorrow at 1 and 7 p.m. at
the Round House Theatre/Silver Spring -- recasts King Henry V of England as
Henry England, a union organizer leading auto workers in revolt against the
France Motor Company of Flint Michigan. As re-imagined by Lumina Studio Theatre
Executive and Artistic Director David Minton and Maryland Senator Jamie Raskin,
Shakespeare’s Henry V is transformed into a rollicking
musical, with songs by the likes of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, performed by
a chorus of exuberant young actors, who connect Henry’s underdog English army
with the United Auto Workers who went on strike against General Motors in
1937. Brother Hal brilliantly realizes Lumina’s mission to
give people of all ages access to that something in Shakespeare that defies the
limits of time and place. Adapted from Mark Dewey’s review in DC Theatre Scene;
photo: Metro Council President Jos Williams joins the young actors to rehearse
for his guest appearance in the May 9 performance of Brother Hal; he was joined
by Damon Silvers of the AFL-CIO and MD Sen. Jamie Raskin; photo by Chris
Garlock. Final performances today andtomorrow; click here for tickets. 
plot by Bertolt Brecht, SWEET JOAN focuses on the early
1900's as Joan stands up for the children and gets caught in the middle of a
power struggle between two giants in the textile industry, but the dangers, and
abuse, are still relevant with those most vulnerable
worldwide. 
COMING UP:
ONGOING:
Art Exhibit: Ralph Fasanella:
Lest We Forget: Union organizer Ralph
Fasanella celebrated the common man and tackled complex issues of postwar
America in 
colorful, socially-minded paintings. Daily, American Art
Museum (8th and F Streets, N.W.) 3rd floor North. The AFL-CIO is
also hosting an exhibit of Fasanella’s work in its lobby: 816
16th St NW. weekdays 8-5.
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. Through May 17.
Living Out: Comedic play by Lisa Loomer about working
mothers, race, class and immigration status. Through May
18.
The DC LaborFest is an expansion of the annual DC Labor FilmFest; both are organized by the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO.
CLICK HERE for the
complete DC Labor Fest and Labor FilmFest schedule!
* events are free
unless otherwise noted