“Voices from the Fire,” the fall production for Wayland High School this year will premiere on November 15 at 7:30 p.m. on the main stage. There will also be further showings on November 16 and November 17.
The play is about the Triangle fire, a fire that took place in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City in 1911. Other subjects in “Voices from the Fire” are teenage girls who went on strike in 1909, the immigrant experience and big business not caring about anything.
“Voices from the Fire” also touches on the story of teenage girls who went on strike in 1909, the immigrant experience of living in the United States and the ignorance of big businesses.
“Voices from the Fire” is different from many past WHS plays because all the actors in the play have written their own material. The actors all gave their characters a journey, which is filled with struggles and most of the time, ends tragically.
“The actors worked as historians and playwrights, and their acting is coming last. It’s different than a play where you’re cast as an actor and a character,” Weingartner explained.
Since the play was written mainly by the students, there aren’t one or two main leads. Instead, everyone holds a major role in the play.
Weingartner had researched the Triangle fire years ago and suggested the idea again as last year marked the fire’s 100th anniversary.
“I watched this PBS documentary, started doing more research on the fire and was very struck and moved buy it, so I presented it to my former students, and we did some work on it as if it were going to be a production,” Weingartner said.
After Thanksgiving, the actors will perform “Voices from the Fire” in Brookline as well.