“This is one of the most dangerous jobs in the city, “ Hiram Delgado as Barabbás said on stage this weekend in “La Dureza,” which chronicles a day in the life of a Deliverista – one of the New Yorkers who make a living delivering food.
The play by Ed Cardona Jr. launched Stage Left, a new, plainly political festival of six staged readings, organized by Working Theater and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. “This is a festival designed to speak directly to our current moment of political entrenchment,” Working Theater’s artistic director Colm Summers said on Saturday at the opening.. “Today in Washington, DC, the President is celebrating his birthday with a military parade. And across the country, ICE are picking up our comrades, our fellow citizens, and today we are going to sit here and we are going to celebrate the stories from our communities, our working class communities, our immigrant communities, and we’re going to say, no ICE, no kings, no pasará.”
So, yes, political. But what was most intriguing about “La Dureza” was how much it avoided anything explicitly political – even as, off-stage, politics positively swirls around Deliveristas; they are even at the center of an issue that the candidates for New York City mayor argued about at both recent debates.
Barabbás recounts how he and the other delivery workers are cursed by drivers, injured by suddenly opened car doors, menaced by thieves. But he also shows pride in what he does, and brings a touch of poetry to it. He recalls how his father would pick a cherry tomato from their garden back home “clean it off with his soiled hands and feed it to me…Some of our greatest memories are surrounded by food” – memories he now carries on his back for other people.
It’s true at one point he asks: “Do you ever notice me when I ride by or am I just part of the
scenery, the city machinery?” And at another, he mentions Los Deliveristas Unidos, “an organization trying to
give us a voice.” But the playwright deliberately plays this down by having Barabbas say that it’s not he but his friend Fernando who’s involved with the union, so “I can’t tell you too much more about that.
It was only after the play that the politics kicked in. Each of the six plays in the festival are paired with activist groups, designated “community partners.” After the 80-minute play, there was a panel discussion about the specific issues with members of Los Deliveristas Unidos/Worker’s Justice Project , who advocate for the 65,000 or so app-based delivery workers in New York City.
The mayoral debate largely framed the issue as e-bikes going too fast, posing a danger to pedestrians, and discussed Mayor Eric Adams’ proposed speed limit. In fairness, Adrienne Adams did say “the e-bike riders are people that deliver food to our homes and they have families as well.” And several candidates argued that the problem, and its solution, rested with the delivery apps. Zohran Mamdani pointed out that the political action committee supporting Andrew Cuomo received a one million dollar donation from DoorDash. “ How are you going to regulate DoorDash when they are giving you a million dollars to influence your street safety regulations and your labor regulations?”
But it was only, on the stage of Playwrights Horizons, that advocates centered the issue from the perspective of the delivery workers – people who “transport billions of dollars of goods each year yet do not benefit from minimum wage or workplace safety protections because they are classified as independent contractors.”
Stage Left continues next weekend.
FOOT WEARS HOUSE
June 20 at 7 p.m.
by Laura Neill
Community Partner: REI Soho Union and Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU)
Your neighborhood outdoor goods store is unionizing. The people who sold you your hiking boots are trying to figure out who’s down to strike—while helping sixteen customers at a time and hoping the store doesn’t flood again. Foot Wears House reveals the humor, camaraderie, and pure rage that exists at the intersection of no guaranteed hours and salaried managers who are Really Excited About Selling Memberships! Plus, the warehouse bays and alarm seem to have a life of their own… is the warehouse ghost unionizing, too?
THE GARBOLOGISTS
JUNE 21 at 2 p.m.
by Lindsay Joelle
Community Partner: TBD
A heartwarming, funny, and deeply human play about finding connection in the most unexpected places. When a seasoned sanitation worker is paired with an eager new trainee their days of collecting trash become a journey through race, grief, resilience, and the surprising beauty hidden in what we throw away. Through sharp dialogue and tender moments, The Garbologists shows us that sometimes the things we discard hold the greatest meaning.
DATE OF RELEASE
June 22 at 2 p.m.
by Andrea Ambam
Community Partner: Release Aging People in Prison
Separated by incarceration, twin sisters Jade and Jasper make parallel attempts to get free, despite being on opposite sides of prison walls. One seeks somatic therapy at a wellness studio, the other prepares for her fourth parole hearing. What tethers them? The shared, aching anticipation of release.
