This year, the Friends Academy Theater and Dance Department put on the musical, Working. Working was inspired by the 1974 Studs Terkel book titled Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. The best-selling book consisted of a compilation of monologues in which people talked about their jobs. This musical adaption allows the audience to explore the occupations of many people and hear about how their jobs make them feel. It gives an insight into the possible thoughts of people who we might see and acknowledge every day, but never truly think about. The jobs range from stay-at-home mom to laborer, receptionist to delivery person, and waitress to truck driver. With songs written by many famous composers such as Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the music extends to a variety of styles and allows for many different voices to be heard throughout the performance. The music consists of everything in between fun, up-tempo group numbers and beautiful, heart-wrenching solos. With eye-opening songs such as “Cleaning Women” and “Just a Housewife,” the show tackles larger issues than most of our Friends Academy students have experienced and will allow audience members to take a deeper look at the many people in their lives and how they are affected by their work.

With the help of our director, Tracey Foster, and the rest of our incredible theater department faculty, the show came together amazingly and I’m so proud to have watched this show grow into an incredible piece of art. As actors, we were all incredibly excited to put our best work on stage and were happy that we made put on the best show possible. With each cast member portraying a different occupation and character, we are so glad that students came out to support their peers and hear about the “extraordinary dreams of ordinary people” in Working.