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The cast and director of Kelundra Smith\u2019s \u2018The Wash,\u2019 making its Florida premiere Oct. 1-11 at The Studio in St. Petersburg. (Rear L-R) Holly Marie Weber, Jemier Jenkins, Jada Griffin, Andresia Moseley (front L-R) Nadine Young, Erica Sutherlin, Marjorie Joseph, Credit: c\/o The Studio<\/p>\n
In the summer of 1881, twenty Black laundresses in Atlanta did some basic math on their backbreaking labor, realized they were being exploited, and decided they had washed their last shirt for pennies. They formed the Washing Society, set a firm rate of one dollar per twelve pounds of laundry, and walked off the job. Within weeks, roughly 3,000 women\u2014Black and white alike\u2014joined the cause, bringing the entire city to a grinding halt and securing the post-Civil War South\u2019s first successful interracial labor strike.<\/p>\n
Not your standard history lesson<\/p>\n
If your brain automatically files \u201c1881 historical drama\u201d under \u201cdry academic obligation,\u201d prepare to be thoroughly corrected. Playwright Kelundra Smith\u2019s celebrated play \u201cThe Wash\u201d\u2014making its Florida premiere October 1\u201311 at The Studio in St. Petersburg\u2014doesn\u2019t feel like a museum piece. In a modern economy defined by soaring rent, stagnant wages, and collective burnout, watching six working women turn a tub of suds into economic leverage feels less like history and more like a group chat conversation from yesterday morning.<\/p>\n
Set almost entirely around the washing tubs, the play follows six women\u2014brought to life by Andresia Moseley, Jemier Jenkins, Jada Griffin, Marjorie Joseph, Nadine Young, and Holly Marie Weber\u2014who argue, gossip, grieve, and organize. As director Erica Sutherlin notes, real movement-building doesn\u2019t begin with a podium and a bullhorn; it starts in a room built on mutual trust. Crucially, the play is also wildly funny. It skips solemn posturing in favor of a warm, sharp-witted portrait of sisterhood among ordinary workers who discover that their shared labor is the one thing keeping the city running.<\/p>\n
This post first appeared at TB Arts Passport<\/a>, which is part of the Tampa Bay Journalism Project<\/a> \u00a0(TBJP), a nascent Creative Loafing Tampa Bay effort supported by grants and a coalition of donors who make specific contributions via the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation<\/a>. If you are a non-paywalled Bay area publication interested in TBJP, please email [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. Support TB Arts Passport by subscribing to its free newsletter or becoming a paying Arts Passport Member<\/a>.<\/p>\n A rare cross-Bay power move<\/p>\n There is also a significant statement being made behind the scenes. \u201cThe Wash\u201d is a full co-production between St. Petersburg\u2019s The Studio and Tampa\u2019s Powerstories Theatre. Instead of competing for audiences on opposite sides of the bay, the two companies are sharing the stage, the financial risk, and the spotlight. Following their sold-out run of Cadillac Crew last season, this partnership between Powerstories\u2019 Executive Artistic Director Clareann Despain and The Studio\u2019s Erica Sutherlin proves what can happen when regional arts organizations build real bridges across the water.<\/p>\n It\u2019s high-stakes history delivered in an intimate setting, proving that the most explosive labor politics in Southern history started over a tub of dirty clothes.<\/p>\n
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