On the Line

by Carol Korty

Audience participation play for an ensemble of 3 men, 3 women, set in Lawrence, Mass. in 1912. For middle school and older audiences. 1 hour . $ 6.50

Drama is a powerful vehicle for understanding historical events in the context of the people who made them happen. On the Line, set at the time of the woolen mill strikes in New England, is a theatre in education project designed to involve young people in exploring the industrial revolution of the late 19th and early 20th century. But it is more than an in-depth examination of another era. It provides adolescents a yardstick by which to measure their own lives, at the time when they are struggling to establish their own identities and values. For paralleling the issues of the strike, with workers seeking recognition and respect from the factory owners, is the struggle of the protagonist, 14-year-old Marie Claire Levesque, to gain acknowledgment of her individuality from her authoritarian father.

On the Line was designed as a participation play to be performed for and with six classrooms of middle or junior high school students, all of whom take part in the play with the actors--some as immigrant workers, some as strikers (many of them teenagers), some as members of the militia assigned to control the picket lines. They will join in labor songs of the period ("Bread and Roses," "Solidarity Forever," "The Good Old Picket Line," etc.) The play also lends itself to performance by larger groups--there are roles enough for a whole classroom of young performers.

You will enhance the educational value of your production with workshops before and/or after the performance. An extensive Study Guide, available from the publisher, provides you with background material for actor/teacher preparation, curriculum suggestions, and questions for reflection and discussion.

College and professional touring companies will find On the Line an exciting challenge for their older audiences, and high school students will be excited by sharing it with their peers.