The workers in the spectacularly realized play 7 Minutes are facing a crisis. Their Connecticut textile factory has just been sold. The elected representatives of their union council have been called to a meeting. A decision awaits.
You enter the theater and seating is on all four sides of the room. This is the employee’s break area. You-Shin Chen’s scenic design is perfect. This is not a cushy conference room but instead an assemblage of assorted tables and chairs. Music intended to create a feeling of anxiety plays. Tension lies ahead.
Ten women (including gender non-conforming folx) are clearly on edge. Linda has been in a meeting for over three hours with “ten suits” and has not yet returned. She is their spokesperson. They represent two hundred people employed by this successful company. Linda is meeting with the new owners, some of whom are foreign investors. The number one worry is what will happen to their livelihood.
When Linda finally arrives after nearly four hours, she brings news. Management and their lawyers have a very specific proposal. The council has only ninety minutes to vote. Some view the choice as a simple one; others do not. Eavesdropping on this debate is the fabric of this play.
The council members look like a broad spectrum of the American worker, including many immigrants. Perspectives are varied so the depth of the conversation is engrossing and complicated. How do you approach this decision from your point of view? From your age? From your personal responsibilities?
Each character has a distinct and recognizable voice. Their interactions are vividly realistic from the good natured needling to the outright accusations. The Linda role takes the position of emcee and provocateur. Unfolding layers of individual realities emerge. This decision may or may not be easy. Opposing points of view is a quandary to be solved. Or not.
Unfettered capitalism is the target of Stefano Massini’s play as was the case in his extraordinary The Lehman Trilogy. The council is advised to think carefully. So is the audience. How would you vote and why? Your own life experience will affect how you process the for or against alternatives. Lehman Brothers is gone now but the legacy of strife between American workers and their employers (and government) continues.
Mirroring life, these people have diverse personalities. One with a sense of humor notes that their worst nightmare is to be locked in a factory filled with pictures of her mother made by her mother. Others are intense and describe the current environment as a “cesspool of a world”. The seriousness of the situation is riveting: “we are hacking ourselves to pieces just to save our skins”.
Mei Ann Teo’s meticulous direction has a riveting “you are there” feel. The undulating physical movement through this breakroom nicely focuses attention on each speaker. Their frame of reference makes the discussion compelling and richly complicated. Where this play ends is anyone’s guess. That’s the drama on display and it is a triumphant dissection of topics quite real and, for many, urgently important.
The eleven performances are terrific. Each of them breathes life into the patchwork quilt that is our so-called melting pot. You listen to those who are talking and observe those who are listening and reacting. Along the way inner truths and ideas emerge. They are not all easily digested by them or, by extension, us. Having doubts may be a luxury compared to food on a table or medicine for a child. 7 Minutes is a superior piece of theater firmly planted in today’s America.
7 Minutes is being presented by Waterwell in association with Working Theater through April 9, 2022 at HERE Arts Center.