Working

Working is a musical adaptation of the 1974 book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by celebrated historian and radiojournalist Studs Terkel. The book is a collection of oral history interviews conducted by Terkel with a broad range of Americans in all sorts of jobs about the meanings they make of their life’s work. 

Much like its source material, the musical version of Working presents a diverse array of Americans as they “search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor, in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday-through-Friday sort of dying.” Through a revue-style cycle of songs and monologues based on the words of real people, Working pieces together a telling mosaic of what it means to live and work in this country.

This production will use the 2012 revised libretto and score of Working, featuring new songs by Lin Manuel Miranda in addition to classic songs contributed by the likes of Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor, Mary Rodgers, and more.

Working will serve as a Senior Project in Directing for Jack McAuliffe and a Senior Project in Acting for Adrianne Owings.