DC LaborFest Today
Friday, May 2, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)A free noontime screening of
"Fasanella," an award-winning filmabout Ralph
Fasanella (left) -- “the best primitive
painter
since Grandma Moses” – kicks off today’s DC LaborFest offerings. Thenat 5p
today, Elizabeth
Warren, the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, discusses her inspiring life
story in her new
memoir, “A Fighting
Chance,” also at the AFL-CIO (free but space is limited
and RSVPs
required). And at 6:30p, American
Art
Museum curator Leslie Umberger will host a free discussion with Marc
Fasanella (Ralph’s son), at the opening of a major exhibit of Ralph Fasanella’s paintings at the
Museum.
COMING
UP:
Happy
Birthday Pete Seeger: Joe Uehlein performs his Birthday Tribute to Pete Seeger Saturday night starting at 7:30p at
Zed’s
in Silver Spring.
Kids at
Work: Brother Hal and Sweet Joan of the Textile Mills, two labor-themed plays performed by
young actors debut on Saturday& Sunday, at
the Round House Theatre in Silver Spring. Brother Hal sets Shakespeare's Henry V in a Flint auto plant
in the 1930’s, while Sweet
Joan of the Textile Mills adapts Bertolt Brecht to examine the plight of child
labor; both plays feature young actors from the Lumina Studio
Theatre. Tickets
required; click on the appropriate play for details.
Salt of
the Earth: Originally banned by the U.S. government and now
recognized by the Smithsonian as among “the greatest 100 films
ever made,” this
classic 1954 film – which tells the story of Mexican-American workers who
strike to attain wage parity with Anglo workers and explores the pivotal role
their wives play in the strike -- celebrates its
60th anniversary 7:30p Monday night at the American Film
Institute in Silver Spring (tickets
necessary). Introduced by Tom Zaniello, author of “Working Stiffs,
Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Organized Guide to Films About Labor” and
includes DC Labor FilmFest t-shirt raffle!
Ongoing: Rivera's "Man At The
Crossroads": The Mexican Cultural
Institute hosts a fascinating exhibit reconstructing the history of Diego
Rivera's famous “Man at the Crossroads” mural at Rockefeller Center,
tracing
its history with reproductions of previously unpublished material, including
letters, telegrams, contracts, sketches, and documents, following Rivera's
commission, subsequent tension and conflict, and finally, the mural's
destruction. Daily through May 17.
Living
Out, comedic play by Lisa Loomer about working mothers,
race, class and immigration status. Through May 18.