In The Back/On The Floor
I worked as a stocker in a grocery store for about a month, years ago. It felt like a decade. There's nothing particularly new that is said about the misery of low wage work in America to be found in Ken Green's In The Back/On The Floor directed by Rachel Van and produced by Stage Left but it nonetheless needs to be said and the production says it well.
Our ensemble of protagonists works for Home Base, a thinly veiled, unspeakably cheery Wal-Mart stand in. And why shouldn't they be cheery? They make billions in profit while paying their workers nine dollars an hour, assuring them that they are "family" while reminding them at every turn how disposable they are. As a lucky audience we get to watch indignity upon indignity be heaped on these retail floor warriors, they're sent home just before the 40 hour mark, denying them benefits, they're promised a "prize" if they meet their unloading goals twenty times in a row ("Tacos or something") a man is prevented from talking to the hospital about his dying wife during work hours and more.
There is dark wit and camraderie served alongside the very real misery and the show is both entertaining and provocative. It's episodic but a passionate pro-union throughline finds its way in.
With unionization efforts now making way at giants like Amazon and Starbucks, unthinkable not long ago, this play can serve as a powerful rallying cry.
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