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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us May 12, 2005 Audiences won’t feel ‘Nickel and Dimed’ at OSW’s latest production Oregon Stage Works presents an award-winning look at life on Wal-Mart wages with “Nickel and Dimed,” Joan Holden’s darkly funny adaptation of the Barbara Ehrenreich best-seller. Tamara Marston stars in “Nickel and Dimed.” Photos by Helga Motley | For the Tidings In 1998, reporter Ehrenreich was challenged to answer a question: Is hard work all it takes to get by today in America? For the next two years, posing as an unskilled divorcee, she took jobs as a waitress, a cleaning woman, a nursing home aide and a discount store clerk and tried to live on the wages. A working-class woman who earned a Ph.D., Ehrenreich thought she knew exactly what she was getting into. What she discovered instead, says director Bruce Wallace Hostetler, “was the depth of her own misperceptions.” The book that chronicled this journey of social and self-discovery became a best-seller. Seattle’s Intiman Theatre commissioned playwright Joan Holden to dramatize the work, and the resulting play, called “involving, important and urgently topical” by critics, received a Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle Award in 2003. Peter Alzado, OSW’s Producing artistic director, decided to do a full production of “Nickel and Dimed” after the company’s reading last summer sparked community interest. “People were engaged by the humor and the humanity of this play,” Alzado said. “The American people have a wonderful capacity to want to make things right, particularly when we can laugh at ourselves while doing it. The humor in this play gives us a wonderful opportunity to gain insight into what remains a lamentable and somewhat invisible part of our culture, and from that insight to participate in changing it.” The play also stuck a chord with cast members. Geoffrey Riley is also featured in OSW’s production. “One cast member called me after our first rehearsal to talk about how amazing this play is,” Hostetler said. “She’s been a migrant worker and a maid, and she said that part of her life was a hidden story that doesn’t often get told.” Hostetler adds that the play uncovered perspectives he hadn’t fully considered. “One struck me in particular,” he said. “As Barbara puts it, ’When someone works for less pay than she can live on, or risks her children so yours can be safe, she has made a great sacrifice for you. She has made you a gift of part of her life. The working poor are our biggest anonymous donors. We need to figure out what we owe them.’” But “Nickel and Dimed” is not just a profound story, Hostetler said, “it’s also a good story, one that’s fast-paced and moving and funny.” The production is highly theatrical, with stylized sets and rapid shifts from one scene to another and actors who juggle multiple roles. “The play’s energy and imagination,” Hostetler said, “are part of its joy.” Hostetler, who holds an M.F.A. in Directing from Carnegie Mellon, has directed opera, musical and theater productions nationwide, including works at Shakespeare Santa Cruz and Opera Theater of Pittsburgh. Recent Rogue Valley credits include “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” for OSW and “Amahl and the Night Visitors” for Rogue Opera. Kate Sullivan , left, talks with Tamara Marston on the set of “Nickel and Dimed.” The cast features Tamara Marston as Barbara. A well-known actor and singer in the Valley, Marston recently directed “The Boy Who Talks to Whales” for OSW. Kate Sullivan, also well-known in the area, appeared in “A Christmas Carol” and “Talley’s Folly” at OSW. Both are joined by Diana Edgerton, seen most recently in “Lillian Goes to the Mirror” at the Ashland New Plays Festival. Acting veteran Geoffrey Riley, familiar from Camelot’s “I Do! I Do!” and “Zorba!” and Gentry Smith, who played in OSW’s “Lobby Hero,” also join the cast. The production marks a return to acting for Dawn Mezano, who performed in the L.A. area as a child, and the acting debut of Teresa Peterson. Set design for “Nickel and Dimed” is by Troy Hemmerling, lighting design by G. Crane Coleman, sound design by Ethan Knowles and costume design by Rhonda Lawrence. Susan Lanning is in charge of props. Set design is by Brian Wallace and Scott Hall and set painting by Susan Sawatsky. Tony Laughlin, Gentry Smith and Kate Sullivan stage-manage the production. OSW has donated the entire house on May 20 to the Rogue Valley chapter of Oregon Action, which works on affordable housing and other issues affecting the low-income community. Tickets for the benefit performance are available at 772-4029. The play opens at 8 p.m. Thursday at Oregon Stage Works in Ashland’s A Street Market Place. It runs at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays through June 19. Tickets are $17, $10 for students, at Grocery Outlet in Medford and the Music Coop in Ashland. Previews, held at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, are $10. For information and reservations, call 482-2334. 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