Nickel and Dimed

by Joan Holden; based on the book by Barbara Ehrenreich

University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fall 2013

Directed by Brian Cook
Scenery, Lighting and Sound Design by Kade Mendelowitz
Costume Design by Bethany Marx
Technical Direction by Adam Gillette
Stage Management by Steve Keller


CAST
Barbara: Rachel Blackwell

Ensemble: 
Melissa Buchta
Daniels Calvin
Nicole Cowans
Ian Hendren
Marley Horner
Katrina Kuharich
Nancy Nguyen

Can a middle-aged, middle-class woman survive, when she suddenly has to make beds all day in a hotel and live on $7 an hour? Maybe. But one $7-an-hour job won't pay the rent: she'll have to do back-to-back shifts, as a chambermaid and a waitress. This isn't the first surprise for acclaimed author Barbara, who set out to research low-wage life firsthand, confident she was prepared for the worst. Barbara Ehrenreich's best-seller about her odyssey is vivid and witty, yet always deeply sobering. Joan Holden's stage adaptation is a focused comic epic shadowed with tragedy.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES

Production Photos


Barbara meets with her editor to propose a book; he's into the idea that she should go out into the working-class world to see if she can make a living.

Her first job is at Kenny's, a busy diner in Florida.

She learns quickly that it's hard to make it on her low wages.
She takes a second job as a cleaning lady in a motel.

The job isn't easy, and neither are her co-workers.

Her next job is at Magic Maids in Maine.

She takes a second job in Maine as a dietary aide at a nursing home.

Barbara often encounters difficulty with her bosses.

After her job in Maine, Barbara's boyfriend is fed up with the project and wants her to give it up.

She decides that one last job, this time in Minnesota, will give her all the material she needs for the book.

This time, she finds a job at Mall-Mart, the quintessential low-wage employer.

Barbara goes off on one of her co-workers one day, making her realize that wage-related stress is probably the most damaging part of being working class.

At the end, all of the people Barbara has met reflect on their lives.