The Show Must Go On

Jobs are coming to Las Vegas!

Or at least a musical about them is.

Jade Productions' "Working" -- based on Studs Terkel's 1974 book of interviews with American workers -- closes out the season for Super Summer Theatre at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.

"There's no story line," says director Joy Demain. "It's just many, many different characters who get up onstage who talk about life, hopes, dreams and aspirations -- all related to the way they feel about their jobs."

The characters include a grocery checker, a business executive and a valet parker, to name a very few.

"When you're little, you have dreams you want to accomplish," says Demain, who works as a Silverado High School drama teacher. "As you get older, things fall away because other things are important and everybody can't achieve their dreams."

One line from the script, Demain says, crystallizes its spirit: "Jobs are not big enough for people."

Composer Stephen Schwartz first brought "Working" to Broadway for a brief run in 1978 -- with help from rock superstar James Taylor, who wrote some of its original songs. Since then, the musical has become an indie theater staple. Demain herself, in a 1980 Honololu production, played the parts of a receptionist and a mill worker.

"The show has stayed with me since then," she says, adding that she last staged it in 2003 at the Summerlin Library Theatre.

Demain says the sour economy imparts a new context to the material.

"Maybe people can now see themselves working in a grocery store, whereas they couldn't a few years ago," she says. "What they'll get from this play is that the things that people go through to make a living are universal things."

Actually, "Working" will create 25 part-time jobs for its cast members -- each of whom can expect a small stipend for their work.

"Small is correct," Demain says.

Contact reporter Corey Levitan at clevitan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0456.