Southwestern to stage Nickel and Dimed at Hales Center

The Southwestern Oregon Community College Theatre Department will be providing an inside look at the life of the working poor when it presents a stage adaptation of Nickel and Dimed in March at the Hales Center for the Performing Arts.

What is it like being poor? Being forced to work two jobs to pay for rent and food; to live without health insurance; to lack funds for adequate housing? In 1998 noted social critic Barbara Ehrenreich posed as a member of the working poor to discover the answers for herself. Her objective was simple: to find out if a “single female – fit and of reasonable intelligence – can land in a strange town, find a place to live and a crappy job, hold the job for a month, eat, keep her clothes clean and save enough to make next month’s rent?”

Nickel and Dimed is her shocking report. Ehrenreich’s book quickly jumped onto best-seller lists and into college classrooms. In 2002 it also leapt onstage. Joan Holden’s feisty theatrical adaptation of Nickel and Dimed is scheduled to be performed at 7 p.m. on March 2, 3, 9 and 10 at the Hales Center for the Performing Arts, with another showing set at 3 p.m. on March 4. Tickets are $8 for general admission, and students get in free. Reservations are available by calling 888-SHOW.

Veteran performer Cheri Valentine plays Barbara Ehrenreich. With great hilarity the play records her not always funny adventures waiting tables, cleaning motels, washing dishes, scrubbing toilets and stocking shelves at Wal-Mart. An ensemble cast of 15 performers play 40 characters Ehrenreich meets along the way, including waitresses, clerks, maids and “the management.” This multimedia production is directed by Rob Clingan; Sandi Arbuckle will design costumes with production management by Alice Carlson and technical direction by Paul Comfort and Martin Hatler.

Nickel and Dimed is considered a classic in exploring the reality of the working poor, including a powerful analysis of gender and social class. These issues will be explored in informal post-show discussions guided by Christina Alexander, associate professor of sociology at Southwestern, following the performances on March 3 and 9.

For more information those interested can call Clingan at 888-1578 or visit the Web site at http://www.socc.edu/dept/theatre.

Press Release Date: February 15, 2007