Playwright Kaiulani Lee has written and is performing a new work called “Can’t Scare Me, the Story of Mother Jones,” about the life of labor reformer Mother Jones. As Lee toured her one-woman show on Rachel Carson across America in recent years, she found troubling images of people who are falling through the cracks. “I kept running into these families,” she said. “They’ve worked hard but they go to bed anxious about how to keep a roof over their children’s heads.
“It made me go back and look at the labor situation at the turn of the century. There is great similarity between then and now. I read my friends quotes from various speeches. They would guess the speeches were written in 2008. In fact, they were written in 1899.
| ONSTAGE |
| ‘Can’t Scare Me, the Story of Mother Jones’ |
| » Where: Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE |
| » When: Friday through Oct. 30 |
| » Info: $12 to $30; 202-399-7993; atlasarts.org |
“These rights we take for granted were hard fought for, whether they deal with workplace safety or weekends. The labor movement is a history of faith, of solidarity, of looking beyond your needs to looking at the needs of the people around you. It’s everything we’re proud of. I thought, ‘Why hasn’t this been captured?’ and I began searching for a voice that could bring this to the modern day.”
The voice Lee found belonged to Mary Harris Jones, who came to America as a poor Irish immigrant.
“I went to Catholic University where her papers are,” Lee said. “She was a vital force. She worked with several presidents. She spoke before Congress repeatedly. She addressed sold out houses at Carnegie Hall.”
Lee, who has taught at George Mason University since the mid-1990s, first mentioned her research to Rick Davis, co-artistic director of GMU’s Theater of the First Amendment. “She read the play to us,” said Davis, who is directing the show. “Then we worked with her last summer and intensively investigated how we would do the piece.
“I knew Mother Jones as an icon but knew very little about her work. That’s one reason I’m so excited about doing this play. She’s such a strong, brave character from past. Bringing her to life is a real treat.”
