Last Thursday, I had the amazing opportunity to watch the play, Precious Memories, during the 10th Annual Appalachian Festival. Accomplished musician, Sue Massek, preformed the entire play as one-woman show. Si Kahn, a well-known folk music performer and community coordinator, originally wrote the play. The play centers upon Sarah Ogan Gunning, unacknowledged, yet significant figure in the world of American labor movement and folk music. Throughout the play Gunning presents a thoughtful and passionate monologue in which she is speaking directly to the memory of dead older sister, Molly. In the play, Gunning expresses a myriad of feeling towards her sister, such as scorn towards Molly’s jealousy of her evident gift for singing. Gunning has displays
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Coming from an African background, I was never fully aware of the full history of America and in particular the history of Maryland and its surrounding states. However, this play has definitely provided a remedy for this awareness. It is clear from the songs of Sarah Gunning that capitalism not only played a significant role in negatively impacting the lives of many in this region, but also had single handedly tore apart many miner families. Gunning’s songs shield light on the fact that if it were not for those in position of power in regards to mining business, deaths of husbands, brothers and fathers during to accidents and diseases, such as black lung or tuberculosis, would have never occurred at the rate they had been. The play also pointed to the significance of labor unions throughout the United States, in order to protect and advocate the rights and well being of workers everywhere. Such a lesson can be extended to the current issues occurring in America today. With the large number of illegal immigrant laborers today and many politicians calling on immigration reform, in my opinion, it necessary for the formation of a union for such workers to ensure their rights as paid workers and human beings in this country as well. Altogether, Precious Memories provided me with an engaging night at the theatre, but an educational experience on the reality of life once here in
Coming from an African background, I was never fully aware of the full history of America and in particular the history of Maryland and its surrounding states. However, this play has definitely provided a remedy for this awareness. It is clear from the songs of Sarah Gunning that capitalism not only played a significant role in negatively impacting the lives of many in this region, but also had single handedly tore apart many miner families. Gunning’s songs shield light on the fact that if it were not for those in position of power in regards to mining business, deaths of husbands, brothers and fathers during to accidents and diseases, such as black lung or tuberculosis, would have never occurred at the rate they had been. The play also pointed to the significance of labor unions throughout the United States, in order to protect and advocate the rights and well being of workers everywhere. Such a lesson can be extended to the current issues occurring in America today. With the large number of illegal immigrant laborers today and many politicians calling on immigration reform, in my opinion, it necessary for the formation of a union for such workers to ensure their rights as paid workers and human beings in this country as well. Altogether, Precious Memories provided me with an engaging night at the theatre, but an educational experience on the reality of life once here in