NOTE: Admission is free, but because of the size of the space seating will be limited! Call or message us ahead of the performance so we can get an estimate of how many people we can expect to fit in the audience.
Doors open at 7:00, and seating is capped at 30 people with 10 seats available for reservation each night. If you have reserved a seat for a particular date and are not in attendance 5 minutes before the performance is scheduled to begin, any seats left open will be given to a walk-in audience member.
Waiting for Lefty is a one act play by Clifford Odets, written in the wake of the New York City Taxi Strike a year after it took place between February and April of 1934. The play is primarily set in the union meeting hall as workers in the taxi driver’s union gather to decide whether or not to strike. Hesitation causes the workers to wait for Lefty, the eponymous elected leader, to arrive and give a final word on whether to strike.
This meeting is counterbalanced by separate vignettes about fictionalized characters connected to the taxi strike, including Joe, a taxi driver and everyman who argues with his wife Edna about their inability to feed their children on his income; Florence and Sid, a pair of idealistic young lovers who are disillusioned by the financial reality of Sid’s low-paying gig as a taxi driver; Fayette, a corporate executive of a technology firm who offers Miller, an employee, a raise and a promotion if he promises to spy and report on the activities of another employee.
These, among other stories, provide a broader picture of both the significance of the strike to the drivers and the radial impact the strike has on the minds of other workers.
The play will be produced in Philadelphia as a tribute to the playwright's place of birth and in respect of the clear connections the play makes to the city.
Ignoble Artists' performances will be held at the intimate space of Pilot Projects in Philadelphia, PA. Performances will place the audience within inches of the action, creating an immersive experience that makes the audience feel as if they were really attending the contentious union meeting.
Performances are made possible by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.