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Theatre Tulsa Presents "Waiting for Lefty"

By Rich Fisher

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwgs/local-kwgs-1000042.mp3

Tulsa, OK – On today's ST, we speak with Michael Wright, the Applied Professor of Creative Writing and Theatre/Film Studies at TU, who is also directing a Theatre Tulsa staging of "Waiting for Lefty" by Clifford Odets. This new production opens tonight (the 13th) at the Williams Theater in the Tulsa PAC; it will also be presented on the 14th, 15th, 19th, 20th, and 21st. (For more information, please call 918.596.7111 or visit MyTicketOffice.com.) A Depression-era favorite that's now seen as an American classic, this play mainly concerns a group of New York City cab drivers who are wondering whether they should strike. As has been noted on the Theatre Tulsa website (at www.theatretulsa.org): "Why choose this old play for production in 2012? As Harry Fatt and other characters in 'Waiting for Lefty' say: 'Just read the papers!' All around us the same circumstances are still very much alive as in 1935: attempts at a variety of levels to undo and quash unions; poverty, joblessness, and loss of homes due to corruption and mismanagement in the business and banking worlds; and the struggles for equality via the world-changing protests in the Middle East as well as the 'Occupy' movements from east coast to west here in America. 'Waiting for Lefty' offered hope at a time when things seemed to be reaching their darkest, and does so once again in the present day." Also on today's show, our commentator Collin Hinds looks at the ongoing revitalization of downtown Tulsa and ponders whether the government-aided development to be seen in certain instances therein is actually --- as some have asserted --- "socialism" at work.