Historical resonance
New civil rights musical at TheaterWorks shows how protesting has changed in 50 years
The Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968 is hardly unknown. It’s where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech. But a new musical, “At the River I Stand,” at TheaterWorks revisits that inspiring uprising of African American workers, exploring how such actions of the ’60s are perceived by people today.
The strike, seen as a turning point in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, was the subject of a 1985 book “At the River I Stand.” The book was the basis of an award-winning 1994 documentary. That in turn has inspired a stage musical. It was given an online reading in L.A. as part of a Juneteenth observation and is now opening the TheaterWorks Hartford’s new membership-based subscription season Sept. 27 through Oct. 10.
“I really didn’t know anything meaningful about the sanitation workers’ strike,” says “At the River I Stand” composer Rowen Casey. “I knew it as the backdrop for Dr. King.”
The strike was for better working conditions after two sanitation workers were crushed in a trash compactor. The majority of sanitation workers were Black, and the strike dovetailed with civil rights actions happening around the U.S. at the time, particularly the Poor People’s Campaign.
“We weren’t interested in telling another story of Dr. King. We have plenty of those,” says Alani Ilongwe, who wrote the book for the musical. Indeed, there have been numerous plays, musicals and operas that cover King’s final days.
He and composer Casey created a new framework for this historical drama, involving old-school protesters as well as those who “reject the previous generation” and “represent changing times.”
“At the River I Stand” is still a work in progress; Ilongwe says he hasn’t even settled on “At the River I Stand” as the final title. TheaterWorks is calling this “a streamed reading of a new musical in development.” Following several weeks of rewriting and brainstorming, the show will be produced for online consumption, then filmed.
Though the creators have been working together in person, the rehearsals and the staging of the show have the actors in separate remote locations. The music is pre-recorded, mostly played on “virtual instruments,” Casey says, plus himself on violin, guitar and keyboard. “COVID has made the logistics of playing live difficult, but you hear the potential of the excitement that live playing would bring.”
The filmed version of the reading will be offered to TheaterWorks members for two weeks. The theater is adding talkbacks and other bonuses to the various screenings.
TheaterWorks associate artistic director Taneisha Duggan has been a steady champion of “At the River I Stand.” She has been