One Big Union
One Big Union
The play was workshopped in The Lab at Plan-B Theatre Company and at the Utah Shakespeare Festival as part of its New American Playwrights Project. It premiered at Plan-B Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, UT, November 10-20, 2016.
CHARACTERS (4 Men, 2 Women):
Actor 1/Working Stiff. He functions as the chorus of the play. Any age, any race, a Wobbly everyman. He wears the Wobbly “uniform”: blue overalls, a black shirt, and a red bandana around his neck.
Actor 2 plays multiple roles. Suggested roles include Otto, MacDougall, Spry and others.
Actor 3/ Joe Hill. Mid-thirties, Swedish. A musician, he sings and plays an instrument (which could be a guitar, banjo, fiddle, accordion, or piano – Joe played them all). He’s led a rough life but he is an autodidact, sharp and very well read.
Actor 4 plays multiple roles. Suggested roles include Dr. McHugh, Judge Ritchie, Hilton and others.
Actor 5 plays multiple roles including Hilda Erickson and Rae Wellman.
Actor 6/Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Dark-haired, Irish. A firebrand.
Setting. Non-representational, as scenes occur in many locales, but it should suggest a union hall, with an IWW banner prominently displayed. Set pieces should be kept to a minimum: a straight-backed chair, a bench, and several stools. The production should suggest that the Wobblies are presenting the story of Joe Hill to an audience (but not in a heavy-handed “let’s put on a show, kids” kind of way). There is historical precedent for this; during the Patterson strike, the Wobblies produced a docudrama about the strike, using the workers playing themselves, and it was performed on Broadway.
Staging. Consider having all actors onstage at all times, with minimal costume changes occurring in sight of the audience. Scenes alternate between semi-realistic scenes with Joe and interludes with a “living newspaper” feel and/or song skits. The production should move quickly, with one scene blending into another, and with high energy, especially during the song skits. The overall color scheme should be neutral and somewhat washed out (blacks, grays, browns) with touches of red (bandanas, banners), so that the red at the beginning (Joe’s blood on his white shirt) and end (the red flowers and the red sashes at the funeral) explode like bursts of color.
Music: This is not a musical, but it is a play with music. Joe Hill wrote all of the lyrics except for The Red Flag. He put the lyrics to all of the songs except Joe Hill’s Last Will. Karaoke versions of all the songs can be found at politicalfolkmusic.org.
Dramaturgs: A wealth of information about Joe Hill can be found at http://local.sltrib.com/charts/joehill/landingpage.html.
This play is a work of fiction. Historical persons have been combined into single characters, events have been imagined, and the chronology has been altered to meet theatrical needs. Any resemblance to actual persons is coincidental.
This play is dedicated to the memory of David Fetzer.
© 2014
PROLOGUE
A union hall. Actors enter while house lights are still up. They bring on props, place them, and then greet audience members, thanking them for coming to the meeting. Joe, carrying a guitar, signals the start with a guitar chord; house lights dim.
Joe
Would you have freedom from wage slavery?
Then join in the Grand Industrial Band;
Would you from mis’ry and hunger be free?
Then come! Do your share, lend a hand!
Cast hums the verse again, as the Working Stiff speaks. He addresses the audience.
Working Stiff
You know who wrote that song, don’t you? No? Well, shame on you. You have heard of the Industrial Workers of the World, haven’t you? The I- double W? The Wobblies? Well, that song was written by the best known Wobbly of them all: Joe Hill
Entire Cast
There is pow’r, there is pow’r
In a band of workingfolk,
When they stand hand in hand,
That’s a pow’r, that’s a pow’r
That must rule in every land –
One Industrial Union Grand!
Working Stiff
(He holds up a 3 x 5 inch white envelope with a picture of Joe Hill on it. To audience) The nineteenth of November. 1916. Chicago. The tenth annual convention of the I-double W. And also the one year anniversary of the death of Joe Hill. Six hundred envelopes, just like this one, were handed out. We took the envelopes home, and on May 1st, opened them … and scattered the earthly remains of Joe Hill all over the world. Except Utah. None of the envelopes went to Utah. Not a single damn one.
Ensemble
There is pow’r, there is pow’r
In a band of workingfolk,
When they stand, hand in hand,
That’s a pow’r, that’s a pow’r
That must rule in every land --
One Industrial Union Grand!
Scene 1: The Bullet Wound
The sound of a gunshot. Joe staggers and Actor 2/Otto supports him, while the rest of the cast scatters. Joe and Otto cross to a porch. Joe leans against the wall beside the door.
Actor 2/Otto
I’m gonna leave now. (Joe doesn’t say anything.) That okay with you, that I leave?
Joe
Yeah. Sure. Go. (The man turns to leave.) Otto.
Actor2/Otto
Yeah.
Joe
Gimme the gun.
Actor 2/Otto
Why you want the gun?
Joe
Gimme the stinkin’ gun.
Otto hands over the gun. Joe puts it in the pocket of his overcoat.
Actor 2/Otto
What you gonna do with it?
Joe
What do you think?
Actor 2/Otto
I don’t know. That’s why I’m askin’. You ain’t gonna fink on me --
Joe
I have never – never - betrayed a friend.
Otto nods, and leaves. Joe pounds on the door or the wall beside it. Actor 4 removes his coat jacket, crosses to the inside of the door.
Actor 4/McHugh
Coming! (Joe pounds again. McHugh answers the door.) What in god’s name --
Joe
Doc, I been shot. You gotta help me.
Joe pulls open his overcoat; his clothes are soaked in blood.
Actor 4/McHugh
My God, Joe. Here, sit down. Let’s get that coat off and see what we’re dealing with.
Two actors move the bench downstage. McHugh helps Joe onto the bench. He helps Joe out of his overcoat.
Joe
Easy, doc. That hurts.
McHugh feels the weight in the pocket and pulls out the gun.
Actor 4/McHugh
What’s this, Joe?
Joe
What does it look like?
McHugh puts it down.
Actor 4/McHugh
We’ve got to stop that bleeding.
McHugh helps Joe take off his shirt.
Joe
I said easy. Take it slow.
Actor 4/McHugh
That bullet went straight through you. Does it hurt when you breathe?
Joe
Yeah. Some.
Joe coughs into a handkerchief; when he pulls it away, it’s bloody. McHugh gets a towel and puts it against the hole in Joe’s breast.
Actor 4/McHugh
It nicked your lung. Can you hold this tight?
Joe
Yeah.
McHugh examines the wound in Joe’s back, cleaning away the blood.
Actor 4/McHugh
You’re a lucky man, Joe.
Joe
Don’t feel lucky.
Actor 4/McHugh
From the location of those bullet holes, I’d say it missed your heart by less than an inch. Otherwise you’d be dead now. (Joe coughs again; more blood.) What happened, Joe? Shoot yourself with your own gun?
Joe
No.
Actor 4/McHugh
Then who shot you?
Joe
A friend.
Actor 4/McHugh
A friend shot you? Ha! That’s some friend.
Joe
We got in a stew. About a woman.
Actor 4/McHugh
A fight about a woman.
Joe
I said something and he got pissed and said something back, and then I got pissed and knocked him down. (Coughs) He got up and pulled a gun on me and shot me.
Actor 4/McHugh
And who is this hot-headed friend of yours?
Joe
Look, doc. I don’t wanna make trouble. I’m as much to blame as he is. As long as this doesn’t kill me, we’ll be ok.
Actor 4/McHugh
Was she worth it?
Joe
What?
Actor 4/McHugh
The woman. Was she worth it?
Joe
It’s not like that, doc. She’s a good kid. She had nothing to do with this.
Actor 4/McHugh
(To audience) So I patch Joe up and drive him home. On the way, the engine stalls and I get out to give it a crank. Joe, he’s holding the gun, looking at it, and suddenly he just chucks it out the window. Sunday, I’m out of town. Monday, I open the papers and it’s front page news.
Actor 5/Rae Wellman, a young reporter, steps forward and holds up a newspaper.
Actor 5/Rae Wellman
FATHER AND SON SLAIN BY MASKED MURDERERS!
Actor 4/McHugh
Two gunmen kill the Morrisons. One gunman possibly wounded. There’s also a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers. So I call the cops. Tell them about Joe, how he came to me with a fresh bullet wound about 11 o’clock on the night of the murders. They ask me to do them a favor. They ask me to drug Joe. And I do.
McHugh takes a needle out of his doctor’s bag and turns to Joe, who is sitting on the bench.
Joe
What do I need a shot for?
Actor 4/McHugh
It’s morphine, Joe. For pain.
Joe
I don’t need that, I’m doing okay.
Actor 4/McHugh
Joe. Don’t be a martyr. The best thing for you is rest, and with this you’ll sleep better. (McHugh administers the shot, and Joe lies down on the bench. To audience) So I give Joe the shot. I tell the cops I gave him the shot. I didn’t want there to be trouble when they come for him. He’s still weak from that shot to his chest and I was trying to avoid having him get roughed up. But.
Actor 2/Policeman bursts in; Joe half sits up.
Actor 2/Policeman
Freeze!
Joe
What the – (The cop fires, Joe’s right hand whips back, there’s blood.) Ah. Why’d you do that, you jerk.
Actor 2/Policeman
(To audience) He had a gun. I swear he had a gun.
Actor 4/McHugh
(To audience) But he didn’t. Joe had thrown the gun away and it was never found. (To Joe) Sorry about the hand, Joe.
Joe
Not your fault the cops are idiots. At least they’re bad shots as well.
McHugh takes a bandage out of his bag and wraps Joe’s hand in an awkward bundle. McHugh crosses out of the light. Joe stands, holding his bandaged hand against his chest. A light flashes: Joe’s booking picture.
Working Stiff
McHugh turned Joe into the cops for 500 hundred pieces of silver instead of thirty – that’s inflation for you. And thirty four years later, he added the small little detail that Joe actually confessed to him – but he never told the cops about Joe’s supposed confession and he never mentioned it in his two times on the witness stand. He also claimed Joe said it was a robbery gone bad – but as we’ll see, the murders were no robbery, they were revenge killings. But we’ll get to that. So now Joe’s been shot twice in less than three days. The cops say if you confess, we’ll treat you “white” and get you to the hospital. But Joe doesn’t confess and they don’t treat him “white.” He goes into shock and almost dies. But he didn’t. Not then.
Joe
I thought about it. There was a time when I was kind of teetering on the edge. It would have been so easy to just … let go. But I’ve never been one to take the easy road. So I made my mind up that I wasn’t gonna die.
Working Stiff
Man, you the original black cat.
Joe
What are you talking about?
Working Stiff
The black sab-cat. (To audience) The black cat’s a symbol for Wobbly sabotage, like a work slow down. (Back to Joe) And every cat got nine lives. You been goin’ through yours like a souse goes through liquor. (To audience) First he almost died of tuberculosis back in Sweden, which left him with a scar along his nose. Then in Frisco, during the earthquake, the apartment house collapsed around him and he had to dig himself out of the basement, followed shortly by his almost getting burned to a crisp while battlin’ the fires there - without any water. Then the bullet through his chest, and the fever from the one through his hand. Plus those other two bullet wounds he never talks about. (To Joe) The way I figure it, you already used up seven of your nine lives.
Joe
If you say so.
Joe removes the bandage from his hand.
Working Stiff
If you had it to do over again –
Joe
Same thing. I’d do the same thing. What else can a true blue rebel do?
Lighting change to indicate end of scene and beginning of song skit.
Joe
(To the tune of Everybody’s Doing It Now)
One Big Union, that’s the worker’s choice
One Big Union, that’s the only noise
One Big Union, shout with all your voice
Make a noise, make a noise,
Ensemble
… make a noise, boys!
The ensemble begins moving in a stylized sort of dance, with elements of a Wobbly recruiting drive where recruits sign their names in a ledger.
Ensemble
Everybody’s joining it, joining what? Joining it!
Everybody’s joining it, joining what? Joining it!
Joining in this union grand
Boys and girls in every land
All the workers hand in hand
Everybody’s joining it now
Working Stiff
Up in Vancouver, in 1911, the I-double-W had a number of Chinese members. There was this one Chinese guy who had a restaurant and he would let any other I-double-W member have a meal on credit. But he couldn’t pronounce the letter “d” so “double” came out “wobble.” He’d ask “You I Wobble Wobble-ew?” and when the red card was shown, you got fed and you could pay later. So we started saying, as a joke you know, “I Wobbly Wobbly.”
Actor 6/Elizabeth climbs on a soapbox.
Elizabeth
Fellow Workers! Friends! Here’s the difference between the Industrial Workers of the World and the American Federation of Labor. This is how the AFL organizes. (She holds up a hand with the fingers splayed. As she speaks she points to different fingers.) The weavers in one union, the cutters in another, the dyers in a third, and then the seamstresses. They should be called the American Separation of Labor. Now this is how the I-double–W organizes. (She raises a clenched fist.) One big union for all the workers. (Actor 4/Salvation Army Man and Actor 5/Salvation Army Woman step forward and begin to play and sing.) There is strength in unity, when one is for all, and all are for one…
Actors 4 and 5
(Actor 4 and Actor 5 in Salvation Army hats, one pounding a drum or cymbals or ringing a bell, and the other shaking a tambourine, sing, drowning out Elizabeth.)
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
Working Stiff
Back in the day, the union busters would send the Salvation Army to drown out Wobbly soap boxers. But we figured out that we could borrow “Starvation Army” tunes and use our own words. Hell, we’ve got as many slogans as they have hymns. We’ll have songs pokin’ fun at the boss and givin’ us courage to fight the good fight.
Joe
Songs to fan the flames of discontent. (He plays an intro and sings Long-Haired Preachers, to the tune of the Sweet Bye and Bye)
Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right;
But when asked how ‘bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet:
(Working Stiff, Elizabeth and Actor 2 enter and join with Joe, harmonizing on the chorus. The two Salvation Army soldiers also sing the original words but are drowned out.)
Joe,Working Stiff, Actor2,Elizabeth
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.
(Actor 2 shouts) That’s a lie.
Actors 4 & 5
In the sweet bye and bye
We shall meet on that beautiful shore
(Actors 4 & 5 stop singing in disgust)
Working Stiff
(Holding up The Little Red Songbook.) This is the songbook we put out. The Little Red Songbook we called it. In 1911, Joe’s song “Long Haired Preachers” appeared. The next year, he had five new songs. And the followin’ year, nine. At that point, he had more published songs than any other Wobbly songsmith.
Joe
A speech is only heard once. A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once. But a song – a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over -- especially if the tune is catchy and the words have bite. And if you can put a few cold, common sense facts into a song and dress them up, you know, with a cloak of humor to take the dryness off, then even an ordinary Joe will get the point.
