Moving tale recounts tragedy

On March 25, 1911, a fire started just before quitting time at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan, and 146 people died within 30 minutes. Thousands stood on the sidewalks below, watching the disaster in horror, helpless to rescue the victims.

This true story is recounted to chilling effect in Minnesota Jewish Theatre's production of "The Triangle Factory Fire Project." Playwright Christopher Piehler collaborated with Scott Alan Evans, artistic director of the Actors Company Theatre in New York, in piecing together newspaper articles, trial transcripts and first-person accounts into a cogent and highly effective re-creation of the devastating fire and its aftermath.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory employed mostly female immigrants in deplorable conditions. Workers were locked in on each floor to prevent them from leaving before their 13-hour shifts were completed. When the fire broke out on the eighth floor that day and quickly spread to the ninth and 10th, many workers had no way out. Panicked, they scrambled to the roof or down a defective fire escape, which collapsed; dozens of women plunged to their deaths. Those who couldn't get past the locked doors threw themselves out of windows or fell down elevator shafts in vain attempts to save their lives.

A strong ensemble of actors ably conjures the horror of the fire from the points-of-view of numerous characters in the first act. There's the hard-boiled newspaper reporter, played by Brian Columbus, who struggles to maintain his objectivity as he describes the sound of the victims' bodies hitting the pavement. There's the lively young Jewish machine operator (Elena Giannetti) who arrives at work with her mind on her upcoming wedding, only to perish a few hours later just inside the locked door on the ninth floor. And there's the factory foreman, in a fine performance by David Coral, who saves a number of employees and then betrays them in the second act. Ellen Apel and Kirby Bennett are also standouts in this excellent cast.

Carolyn Levy directs with economy and imagination, never losing sight of the personal stories, despite the wide-ranging scope of the material. The burgeoning union movement, women's suffrage, labor laws, fire inspection standards and judicial integrity are all woven in seamlessly.

Overall, this is a powerful and moving production that creates a multifaceted portrait not just of a single event but of an entire culture.

Lisa Brock is a Minneapolis writer.