Simpson Productions’ newest show will be “Working: A Musical,” a show created in the 1970s, updated in 2012, and now converted by Simpson College to revolve around the Indianola community.
“Working: A Musical” was written in the 1970s by Stephen Schwartz, who based it on the book “Working” by Studs Terkel. It was a story about and for the American working class. Terkel traveled around the nation collecting interviews about various jobs and experiences. When Schwartz adapted the book into a play, it became a thematic experience of what working meant to the working class.
In 2012, the play was updated to keep up with the drastically changing work environment and included new music from well-known names in the musical industry, such as Lin Manuel Miranda. Simpson then altered the musical to fit the local issues of the Indianola community.
The stories were rewritten to match the experiences of common workers in the Indianola community, using interviews conducted last fall in preparation for this musical.
“We take out the original monologues and insert monologues that are created from interviews with workers,” Jennifer Nostrala, professor of theatre arts, said. “So we had two students, Hannah Rosenfeld and Lyza Cue, last semester and did interviews with different workers.”
The interviews ranged from a 911 operator to a woman running a local cleaning business. Nostrala turned these local stories into monologues and created something new geared towards Simpson and its community.
“There were younger monologues in the original musical, and they say you can do students, so we decided to interview four Simpson students with those monologues spread out in between the music,” Nostrala said.
The casting for the show took place last semester, and rehearsals began after students returned from winter break.
“I know the cast came back early from winter break to start rehearsals, and they’ve been working really hard getting the show up on its feet,” Maddy Gunzenhauser, set designer for the show said. The show’s design has been in the works for the past few weeks and the production team is highly optimistic about the show.
“It’s kind of a reflection of the things we don’t always think about or we don’t always see, so it would be an important musical to go experience,” Gunzenhauser said. “It’s not a super popular musical, but it’s one with a lot of strong names like Lin Manuel Miranda and a good story.”
“Working: A Musical” by Simpson Productions opens on Friday, Feb. 14, and runs through Sunday, Feb. 16, and will be free for all Simpson students to attend.
