2013 Whidbey Island Theatre Festival to Present I DREAMED I SAW JOE HILL LAST NIGHT, 8/1-4

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts is excited to present an original play by Tom Churchill, I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night, on August 1-4, 2013, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2:00 PM; one weekend only. Churchill's play is part of WICA's fourth annual Whidbey Island Theatre Festival.

This original play written by Tom Churchill is directed by Ann Deacon. The crew includes

assistant director, Dwight Zehm; stage manager Warren Carrow; musical director, Robert Marsanyi. The cast includes Loren Churchill, Kira Keeney, Ken Stephens, Rozie Hughes, Rich Doyle, Bryn McAfee, Matthew Gregory, Laura Persaud, and Rita Carrow.

Churchill is compelled to tell the story of workers-in Joe Hill he tells the story of IWW (Industrial Workers of the World, formed in 1905), "

"My new play is called, I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night, which isn't really about Joe Hill, and has no political agenda, although referencing him and his songs in the context of Seattle's 1947-48 red scare offers the tone of political satire supporting the story Churchill says. "We concentrate on the human drama behind the lives of folks who take their causes so seriously that repercussions are almost given in their earnest leanings: you join the Communist Party (or help the F.B.I.) during times of repression, you're likely going to pay consequences down the line, and worse for you if those consequences hurt those closest to you."

I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night is an apolitical play about the highly confrontational political period following WW II and the people caught up in it-who gave themselves too readily to lofty causes that promised solutions but ultimately let them down. An undercurrent of gritty, funny labor music helps set an amusing yet compelling tone for this play.

I feel that workers' stories are told all too rarely or usually with the taint of "mob" influence behind them to make them sell. Still, the emotional need to tell what I know to be a great story drives me. That's first, but as soon as I start research on the subjects' lives, interviewing people who knew them, defended them, supported them, the work gets more and more imposing, the piles of paper mounting higher and higher, the miles to the next useful library or reading room further and further away."

Though not a musical, there is plenty of music throughout the show representing this period of history, including pieces of popular songs from the 1950's, "Do Nothin' 'til You Hear it from Me," "Bye Bye Blackbird," "Blue Moon," "The Internationale," and "America the Beautiful."

Tickets for I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night are $15 for the Thursday through Saturday shows and $12 for the Sunday show. Tickets are on sale at wicaonline.com and by calling the WICA box office at 800-638-7631 or 360-221-8268.