BY WES CIPOLLA
TAMAQUA — “If someone wants to learn about a woman who didn’t take any crap,” says Micah Gursky, director of the Tamaqua Community Arts Center, “they should come see the Mother Jones show.”
“Mother Jones in Heaven,” a musical that has toured the country since 2018, will play at the Tamaqua Community Arts Center at 7 p.m. Sept. 18 and 1 p.m. Sept. 19.
Written by playwright, folk musician and labor activist Si Kahn, the musical tells the story of Mary Harris Jones, the legendary labor leader known as Mother Jones, who fought for higher wages, better working conditions and an end to child labor in the dangerous mines and factories of 19th century America.
The miners of Pennsylvania and West Virginia saw her as a mother figure, while others viewed her as “the most dangerous woman in America” for her ability to unite thousands of miners and their wives in protests and strikes.
In October 1900, Jones led a march of coal miners, their wives and children from McAdoo to Coaldale, passing through Tamaqua. Gursky was interested in the play’s local connection and the talent of its star, “Breaking Bad” and “Law and Order: SVU” actress Vivian Nesbitt.
“She is clearly passionate about the Mother Jones story and its connection to our region,” Gursky said about Nesbitt. Mother Jones was “a remarkable woman who dedicated her life to helping working people. I think people will have an opportunity to learn the local connection to the development of organized labor, and the improvement of conditions for working people.”
The musical shows Mother Jones in heaven, which happens to resemble an Irish pub, looking back on her life and legacy. Sometimes she reflects in song. The music, written by Kahn and performed by Bloomsburg native John Dillon on a guitar he made himself, is a mixture of folk songs and union anthems.
“I kind of wondered how things were so different on one side of the mountain versus the other,” said Dillon, 70. “One side was a coal mining territory and up where I was it was more agricultural. I was always very curious about it, so this is a really cool opportunity to dig into the history.”
Compelled to play role
Nesbitt, 63, said the story is so important it deserves to be remembered.
“So Kahn the author also has a commitment to make sure that people who have such an impact, aren’t forgotten,” she said. “It’s easy to brush it under the rug, but we stand on the shoulders of giants.”
It took several years after reading the script for Nesbitt to accept the part of Mother Jones. At first, she didn’t think she was the right actress.
“I felt Mother Jones was tapping me on the shoulder and saying, ‘You don’t have a choice in this,’ ” she said. “I felt compelled to do it. It was terrifying, at first, she was such a powerhouse. I honestly didn’t think I had it in me. Once I stepped aside and allowed it not to be about me but for it to be about the message of the play, and the story, then it became easier to do.”
To prepare for the role, Nesbitt worked with a vocal coach and trainer. She walked up and down hills, belting the songs that she will sing in the musical until she could “let the emotions just rip,” the way Mother Jones did.
Jones did not naturally have an Irish accent, but she affected one when making impassioned speeches to Irish miners.
When these miners heard her talk the same way they and their mothers did, they felt understood.
“She was a master of political theater,” Nesbitt said. “She was a very interesting character. …. When she gets scrappy, the Irish dialect will come through.”
While researching Jones, Nesbitt was warned not to read her autobiography, because it was “largely a work of fiction.” For years, historians have disagreed about the details of her personal life.
“It wasn’t exactly that she lied; she just kind of bent the truth,” Nesbitt said with a laugh.
The play also touches on a yellow fever epidemic that Mother Jones survived, but that killed her husband and children.
“The people that had resources and privileges were able to stay out and stay healthy, whereas the poor and working classes were not,” Nesbitt said. “We see that happening again.”
Dillon said that a few years later, Mother Jones lost everything in the Great Chicago Fire
“Somehow, we don’t know how, but she managed to take that tragedy and make it into a service to help others, and I find that a really compelling part of the story,” he said.
The Tamaqua performance of “Mother Jones in Heaven” is sponsored by Lehigh Anthracite, the Tamaqua Business & Professional Women’s Club and the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers Local 404.
