Music Theatre Art Events

July 3, 4, 5 2:00 PM (Free) Dolores Park - 18th & Dolores, SF , SF
SF Mime Troupe -  Freedomland
A door is blown off its hinges! Into a blasted room of scarred walls and shattered windows, armed with M-16’s, America’s bravest duck and dodge for cover, finally training their deadly gun sights on... an old black man watching TV on his couch? This isn’t Baghdad or Kandahar - its home, and for ex- Black Panther Malcolm Haywood, it’s just another wrong door police raid in the War on Drugs. So of course Malcolm is horrified when the grandson he’s tried to protect, Nathaniel, returns from serving in Afghanistan only to find another war zone at home - and one where young Black men like Nathaniel are in the crosshairs! Meanwhile the Mayor and the Police Chief - one desperate for votes, the other desperate to fund his militarized police force - ramp up the fear (and their shiny new tank) to fight the newest, drug threat to America. Worse than weed, meth, coke, crack, or crank, it’s... SNORF!!
Please check the full schedule at the website:
www.sfmt.org/schedule

July 3 - 25 (Free) Redstone Building - 2940 16th St., SF ball park
The Underground Art Gallery in the Historic San Francisco Labor Temple
Art celebrating cultural resistance and workers’ movements.
Friday, July 3, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. - Opening reception
Saturday, July 25, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. - Closing reception and end of silent auction; live auctions on both dates and showings by appointment.
For more information, contact the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition, 415-863-1225 or sflivingwage@riseup.net

 

July 5 (Sunday) 7:00 PM (Donation) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
“I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night”
Join LaborFest on The 100th Anniversary Concert on Death of Joe Hill with David Rovics
In 1915 in Salt Lake City, Utah, IWW union organizer and labor troubadour Joe Hill was murdered by a firing squad. The effort to silence him failed and he has become one of the most famous labor organizers and musicians in the world.
It is a sick irony that Utah this year has reinstituted the firing squad for executions! Over 2 million mostly Black and Latino workers are in prison today in the United States and in California, more money is spent on the prison industry than on education.
Joe’s struggle for union and labor rights is as relevant today as it was in 1915. Millions of workers would like to have unions but are intimidated and bullied by companies like Walmart and Macdonald’s to fire workers who speak up. Walmart this year closed five stores including one in Pico Rivera, California for supposed “plumbing problems” which were really threats of union organizing.
Although this Walmart’s act is illegal, the corporations who run America and the world flagrantly ignore the laws and protections workers are supposed to have in this country.
Over 10,000 workers are fired every year in this country for union organizing and these are only the workers that have pursued NLRB lawsuits.
Joe Hill saw the struggle of workers and union rights as the most important struggle in his life, and he paid for it with his life.
LaborFest will honor the 100th anniversary of his death with a concert with labor troubadour David Rovics. Throughout the year, Rovics has been traveling in Europe in a series of concerts to commemorate the life and struggles of Joe Hill.
Rovics has performed throughout the world. His hard hitting songs for workers and human rights are powerful and moving. Also performing at  the commemoration will be Carol Denney and Marcus Duskin.
http://joehill100.com
Parking space available at the union hall parking lot. The entrance is at the corner of King St. and 2nd, right next to the AT&T Ball Park.

July 17 (Friday) 7:30 PM (Donation) ILWU 34 Hall - next to AT&T ball park, SF
Song and Story from Occupy
Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Chorus presents a celebration of the Occupy movement, in song and story. The audience is invited to sing along: lyric sheets will be provided. Founded in 1999, the Labor Chorus helps keeps working-class culture alive, in four-part harmony. We will also have special guests.
www.laborchorus.org

July 21(Tuesday) 8:00 PM (Free) San Jose Improv - 62 S. 2nd St. in San Jose
July 22(Wednesday) 7:30 PM (Free) Tommy T’s Comedy and Steakhouse - 5104 Hopyard Rd., Pleasanton
LaborFest Comedy Night
Join us for these two great nights of comedy with labor friendly comedians who understand labor and union activists.
Enjoy their hilarious views of the world with host Danny Cruz, who is a member of CWA 9523. Call to make reservation for guest list.
No fee, no charge with promo code “LABOR”. 
Call following locations for reservation, and tell them you are for “labor” night.
For July 21, San Jose Improv:
(408) 280-7475
For July 22, Tommy T’s Comedy and Steakhouse:
(925) 227-1800
Or call Jimmy Kelly for tickets and show info:
(408) 597-7648
Must be 18 or older. 2 items minimum order required - 21 or older for drink order.
Door open at 7:30 at SJ Improv, and 7:00 at Tommy T’s.
Donation welcome for San Jose City College Labor Studies Program.

July 23 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T ball park
World Factory” And Chinese Workers In The Global Economy From Theater To Music
And Honoring the Chinese Workers Who Built the Transcontinental Railway
Chinese workers are the largest working-class in the world and 260 million of these workers are migrant workers from throughout the many regions of China. They play a central role in the world economy because China has become the central link in the “World Factory”.
Grass Stage is the production company that helped develop this play about the role of the migrant Chinese worker in this global production chain.
Playwright Zhao Chuan visited Manchester, England and from this visit developed the play reflecting the experience and lives of the Chinese workers who make the many products we use in the United States and throughout the world.
Joining Chuan to perform the segments of this play will be:
Wu Meng, theatre artist, freelance writer, founding member of Grass Stage.
Yu Kai, artist, freelance writer and teacher. Since 2006, she was the main creator and performer in many Grass Stage productions.
Wu Jiamin, the main creator, performer and executive producer of “World Factory”.
There will also be musical performance by Xu Guojian, who is with the Beijing Migrant Workers Home. Head of New Worker’s Art Troupe and Chairman of Trade Union in Pi Village Community, Leader of Workers’ Museum, and Director of Spring Festival Gala for and by Migrant workers.
Also Dong Jun, leader of Zhongdiyin Cultural Center for Workers, initiator, leader, vocalist, and percussionist of Zhongdiyin Worker’s Band, will perform.
The lives and artistic expression of this new young working class is a growing development in China, and their songs tell the story of the lives and their struggles in the new China.

There will also be a presentation by Stanford lecturer
Hilton Obenzinger who is Associate Director, Stanford Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project about the building of the Transcontinental Railway on the 150th anniversary of its construction by the 50,000 Chinese workers who came to America to build it. These Chinese workers played an important and critical role in building America and also led the first and largest strike at that time in California history starting on June 25, 1867. We honor them for the work they did in building America.
http://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/wordpress/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-strike/
For more information contact: (415) 642-8066
Sponsored by LaborFest
Parking space available at the union hall parking lot. The entrance is at the corner of King St. and 2nd, right next to the AT&T ball park.

July 26 (Sunday) 7:00 PM (Free) Stanford University - Stanford Lane History Corner, Stanford
Building location: Building 200, Room 2 (room location subject to change)
Parking: Free in all the regular space on Sunday. Palm Dr. (Oval road) might be the closest
World Factory” And Chinese Workers In The Global Economy From Theater To Music
And Honoring the Chinese Workers Who Built the Transcontinental Railway
Chinese workers are the largest working-class in the world and 260 million of these workers are migrant workers from throughout the many regions of China. They play a central role in the world economy because China has become the central link in the “World Factory”.
Grass Stage is the production company that helped develop this play about the role of the migrant Chinese worker in this global production chain.
Playwright Zhao Chuan visited Manchester, England and from this visit developed the play reflecting the experience and lives of the Chinese workers who make the many products we use in the United States and throughout the world.
Joining Chuan to perform the segments of this play will be:
Wu Meng, theatre artist, freelance writer, founding member of Grass Stage.
Yu Kai, artist, freelance writer and teacher. Since 2006, she was the main creator and performer in many Grass Stage productions.
Wu Jiamin, the main creator, performer and executive producer of “World Factory”.
There will also be musical performance by Xu Guojian, who is with the Beijing Migrant Workers Home. Head of New Worker’s Art Troupe and Chairman of Trade Union in Pi Village Community, Leader of Workers’ Museum, and Director of Spring Festival Gala for and by Migrant workers.
Also Dong Jun, leader of Zhongdiyin Cultural Center for Workers, initiator, leader, vocalist, and percussionist of Zhongdiyin Worker’s Band, will perform.
The lives and artistic expression of this new young working class is a growing development in China, and their songs tell the story of the lives and their struggles in the new China.

There will also be a presentation by Stanford lecturer
Hilton Obenzinger who is Associate Director, Stanford Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project about the building of the Transcontinental Railway on the 150th anniversary of its construction by the 50,000 Chinese workers who came to America to build it. These Chinese workers played an important and critical role in building America and also led the first and largest strike at that time in California history starting on June 25, 1867. We honor them for the work they did in building America.
http://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/wordpress/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-strike/
For more information contact: (415) 642-8066
Sponsored by LaborFest
Work of Giants: The Chinese and the Building of the First Transcontinental Railroad-SF Chinese Historical Society Exhibit

July 27 (Monday) 7:30 PM (Free) Tides Theatre- 533 Sutter (at Powell), SF
TO THE BONE - FREE Staged Reading by Lisa Ramirez
SAG-AFTRA San Francisco-NorCal Local Presents
(This event is fully booked! You can email: Vicki.Balich@sagaftra.org or call 415-874-4951 to be put on a waiting list.)
TO THE BONE is directed by nationally-renowned Lisa Peterson, and performed by SAG-AFTRA actress and playwright  Lisa Ramirez and a stellar cast of SAG-AFTRA actors.
A contemporary American drama, TO THE BONE is about Latina immigrant poultry workers in the U.S. and, in the spirit of John Steinbeck, gives audiences a look inside the lives of the invisible work force that puts food on our tables. TO THE BONE was commissioned and developed by The Working Theater in New York City, and premiered Off Broadway in September, 2014, at Cherry Lane Theatre, starring Ms. Ramirez and directed by Lisa Peterson. The play was a finalist for the National New Play Network Smith Prize.
“Ramirez’s rawly poetic dialogue sears the heart while Lisa Peterson’s unflinching staging crafts images that haunt the mind.”  --  Time Out New York
SAG-AFTRA brings together two great American labor unions: Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. SAG-AFTRA represents more than 160,000 performers and the San Francisco-Northern California local has over 4,500 members including film and television actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers and editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers and voiceover artists.
The staged reading is followed by a Memorial Birthday Tribute to Harry Bridges with cake, champagne and music.

July 31 (Friday) 6:00 - 8:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St. next to AT&T Ball Park
Closing Party - Open Mic
Please join us to celebrate the last day of the LaborFest 2015 with food, music and poetry.
Closing party is open mic. Bring your instruments.