Theater Preview: 'Waiting for Lefty' at Ensemble Theatre

As they say, everything old is new again. And that statement is absolutely true when referring to ’s season-opening production, Waiting for Lefty by Clifford Odets.

Ensemble is now ensconced in its new home in the former Coventry Elementary School, at the southeast corner of Coventry Village. And the theater is beginning its 2011-2012 season with an old play that may initiate some passionate and even heated conversations.

First produced at a time when the country was just emerging from the Great Depression, Waiting for Lefty centers on a meeting of taxi drivers who are planning a labor strike to obtain higher wages.

With a , the anti-collective bargaining bill, this play hits dead center on a current controversy. Who knew that, this many decades later, we’d still be debating and voting on the right of workers to strike (and even organize) to redress grievances?

Written in vignette form with flashbacks, the play focuses on several different characters who are impacted in varying ways by the union movement as they struggle for humanity and fair play in the workplace. The production will be directed by Ian Hinz.

Waiting for Lefty

Oct. 7 through Oct. 30

Fri. & Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m.

Ensemble Theatre, 2843 Washington Blvd.

Tickets: $10-$20 (Student rush tickets: $5)

216-321-2930

info@ensemble-theatre.org