UNO Production of Nickel and Dimed worth every penny spent

It's not everyday that you see a play based on a work of nonfiction, but this isn't just any play.The UNO production of Nickel and Dimed opened Thursday night with a preview show to a half-full theatre of roughly 55 people. By intermission, the audience was abuzz with talk about minimum wage, the working poor and the human condition in general.

The play is based on a work of investigative journalism by Barbara Ehrenreich of the same title, for which Ehrenreich really went through the experiences depicted in the show. It was adapted to the stage by Joan Holden, who was the principle playwright for the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe from 1967 to 2000.

The play opens with a comedic flashback, showing a na've Barbara, played by graduate student Danielle Smith, at her first day of work as a waitress. A few sent-back orders, angry coworkers and spilled food later, we learn that Barbara is in fact a reporter for Harper's magazine on assignment to find out what life is like for American's working class.

Perhaps one of the most telling lines of the play comes in the next scene, as Barbara mocks an electronic testing machine asking her questions. She says of searching for housing, "When I started looking, I didn't know 'trailer trash' would become a title I'd aspire to."

What follows is Barbara's sometimes literally dizzying descent into the world of low-paying jobs, back-breaking labor and the heart-wrenching reality that so many people live each day. She learns, as she says at the end of the play, "Our whole lives are subsidized by the working poor. They're our biggest anonymous donors."

This message is one the UNO production goes at great lengths to drive home to its audience, particularly in a breakout scene performed right before intermission where the cast asked the audience who among them had ever hired help. They point out the custodians at UNO and the maid service provided to some south campus residences, concluding that "there's plenty of privilege here at UNO." They even mentioned the recent faculty's salary increase, noting the advance the faculty has over non-faculty staff members because the faculty has a union.

During intermission, flyers were available with information about minimum wage laws and the concept of "wage slavery," where people may be voluntarily employed but have no realistic alternatives to working a dead-end job.

The final act draws the crowd back in to learn of Barbara's experience at "Mall-Mart," a business whose blue vests and preference of the word "associate" over "employee" might remind some people of a certain real-life corporation. After a red tag sale, a fuchsia tag sale and a much-anticipated burnt-sienna tag sale, it's easy to understand the frustration that Smith so wonderfully emotes on behalf of Ehrenreich.

Director Doug Paterson, in his director's notes, said this is "a play about human beings." He is completely right about this; every scene, every statistic, every sardonic joke reminds the audience just how real this story is, how so many people look everywhere for just some glimmer of hope.

Everyone who has ever worked a low-paying job, and particularly those who have never had to live on its income, should see this production. It just might open your eyes to the world around us.

Remaining performances of Nickel and Dimed are Feb. 28 through March 3, with all shows starting at 7:30 p.m. at the theatre located in the Weber Fine Arts Building. Tickets are $15 for the public or $12 for students and seniors and are available at the box office or by phone at 554-2335.