Studs Terkel – MRQE

American Playhouse:: Working (TVE)

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

This musical adaptation of the Studs Terkel book examines the average worker’s viewpoint–showing that he or she is anything but average. Based on a series of interviews with real working people–construction workers, waitresses, firemen, secretaries, and cleaning women, Working is both an exploration of the individuals’ occupations and a lament for lost hopes and dreams.

Anthem

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

When twenty-six-year-olds Shainee Gabel and Kristin Hahn quit their Hollywood jobs, packed up a borrowed car and hit the road, it was with the deeply felt conviction that somewhere, shrouded in the din of talk shows and tabloid headlines, they’d discover the real America, alive and well in all of its regions and demographics.

Harry Bridges: A Man and His Union

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Harry Bridges: A Man and his Union chronicles the life of one of America’s most important and controversial left-wing labor leader. He headed the International Longshoremen and Warehouseman Union from the 1930’s to the 1970’s and was a champion of workers’ causes on an international scale. Harry Bridges (July 28, 1901 – March 30, 1990) was controversial as he was charismatic. He was prosecuted by FDR, Truman and Eisenhower alike, and convicted by a federal jury for having lied about Communist Party membership-a conviction which was set aside. On the West Coast, Bridges still excites passions both for and against the labor movement.

The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

This documentary examines the experiences of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, using interviews with survivors more than 50 years later. First, the film sets the context with the rise of Fascism. Then, in 1936, Spain’s military revolts against the elected government, and the U.S. and Europe agree not to intervene. In response, volunteers snuck past border guards into Spain to fight with the Republicans. The men and women veterans describe the perils of reaching Spain, limited training, responsibilities of command thrust on the very young, deprivations of a soldier’s life, lack of matériel, horrible rates of casualties, and ultimate vindication at the end of World War II.