'Grapes of Wrath' production hits close to home

If you want to feel what tough times are like, try stepping into the shoes of the Okies in the 1930s, when dust storms ruined their crops and the Depression wrecked their finances.

Today's headlines about Wall Street woes and unemployment add a contemporary relevance to John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that became a Tony Award-winning play, which will be presented by TheatreWorks in 28 performances Thursday through Oct. 19.

"This is one of the greatest American stories ever told," says director Geoffrey Kent, who has been working to bring this Depression-era story to a recession-weary audience.

"One of the wonderful things about this play is the modern-day parallels.

"In the 1930s, people who were unable to find work or unable to pay the mortgage moved on with hopes that there would be somewhere else to work and somewhere else to live. That story resonates really strongly today."

The decision to stage the play was made soon after the Pikes Peak Library District chose the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" as one of two titles in its All Pikes Peak Reads program, which kicks off Sunday.

The reading program is tied to the Dream City: Vision 2020 community initiative, which is dedicated to looking at the past as well as to the future.

TheatreWorks has collaborated with the library for the past six years, producing dramatic versions of the books chosen for communitywide reading.

Steinbeck's epic story follows members of the Joad family, who are forced to leave their Oklahoma farm for California's vast fruit orchards, where they hope to work as migrant fruit pickers.

Along the way, the family encounters birth, death, hunger, political strife, and plenty of urgent questions about personal and social survival.

"Tom Joad wrestles with his responsibility to family versus his responsibility to society, which are sometimes at odds," Kent says.

"He is required to get food on the table for his pregnant sister, and his two younger brothers and sisters. But are the things he has to do for his family the best things for his fellow man?"

Kent has been working more than 35 hours a week with a cast of 32 local actors who portray more than 70 characters.

The staging will include special effects and elaborate props, including a thundering rain, a river that characters can jump and splash in, and a 1930s Chevy, which was purchased through eBay and adapted to resemble the Joads' jalopy.

The production also features original songs composed by local musician John-Alex Mason, who set lines from the novel to music.

"Music is an important part of the story, which was set during the heyday of Woody Guthrie," Kent says.

"Back then, people often created their own entertainment and music."

Steinbeck frequently wrote about America's working class, and he was sympathetic to the plight of workers who struggled to get by. Over the years, he was accused of being a leftist or socialist, and he was even monitored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

But Kent says the reason "The Grapes of Wrath" has worked so well over the years as a novel and a play is because it is nonpartisan.

"This play is about family values, and it's about doing everything you can to help your family and your fellow man," he says.

Kent recites the opening line of the play: "And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men - to feel whether this time the men would break."

"You'll never find a family in American literature with a stronger commitment to family than the Joad family," he says, "and that's a message that transcends the differences between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives."

DETAILS
THE GRAPES OF WRATH

When: Opening-night party with cocktails, music and discussion at 6 p.m. Thursday; curtain at 7 p.m. Regular showtimes will be 7:30 p.m. Sept. 26-27, 4 p.m. Sept. 28; then 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays, through Oct. 19. Student matinees are at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 30 and Oct. 2, 7, 9, 14 and 16. Where: Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater, UCCS, 3955 Cragwood Drive

Tickets: $120 for opening night (benefits Care and Share Food Bank); 528-1247, ext. 222. $5-$25 thereafter; 262-3232, theatreworkscs.org.