You see, as a freshman at Western Washington University in 2006 I had my priorities straight. New friends, auditioning for the fall musical, and wait, what was the last one? Oh yeah, class.
Even though we thought it was a long shot, my best friend, musical loving, and extremely talented roommate and I decided to audition for the university's fall musical, even though we were only a few weeks into our college life and as fresh as a freshman could be.
Somehow by a miracle we were both cast and Psychology 101 became the absolute last thing on my mind. The musical was "Working" and neither of us had ever heard of it but when we read the audition poster and saw that it was written by Stephen Shwartz (basically the God of musicals), we knew we had to be a part of it.
My best friend and I lived and breathed only for being in that show that semester, which is why I got a 1.7 GPA and nearly lost all my scholarships. But that experience taught me so much more about life, and the workforce than I could have ever learned in Music Theory or Geology 101.
I had nearly forgotten about this memory. Until this morning.
While cleaning my kitchen early this morning I was listening to a show tunes playlist on Spotify (as most 31-year-old women do, I'm sure) and a song from "Working" came on. I squealed so loud I probably woke up my neighbors. I quickly went to my phone and found the full album of the cast recording to listen to.
While washing my dishes and sweeping the floor I listened and danced to the songs of real-life, blue collar people that this musical was based on and I couldn't help but feel that this was a perfect soundtrack to our current times.
To put it simply, "Working" is a musical about the essential workers in our world. The drivers, the masons, the house cleaners, the grocery clerks. The brave souls who are still working around the clock during this pandemic to keep the rest of us alive.
Living in downtown Salt Lake City, through these last few weeks, I have watched these people working their butts off not only to keep me alive, but also sane. Without the train drivers, the 7-11 clerks, and the postal workers I would probably be dead. Or at least non-functioning.
If you haven't looked into the eyes of the person bagging your groceries, or handing you your take-out and genuinely thanked them, please do it now. These people are risking their lives every day, still working at minimum wage and living paycheck to paycheck as I did for years, because they don't care if they have to work their fingers to the bone to take care of you.
These are our heroes. I hope when this pandemic eventually becomes a small plot in our memory bank we still remember that.
Until then, please take a listen to the "Working" soundtrack. It was first staged in 1977 and based on the the Studs Terkel book "Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do," which was written in 1974. Somehow over 45 years later these stories still ring true.
To all of you out there making pennies and saving lives in more ways than you know, thank you. I'm sorry we don't say it enough.
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| I was cast as Delores the "Waitress" in the production, little did I know then it would be my real job for the next 10 years, but like she says, "It's an Art." |
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