news | Friday November 3, 2023

"The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin & Kitimat: Two Plays for Workers" Has Landed!

Discover how Canada got the eight-hour workday! Visit the first town to vote on Big Oil! The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin & Kitimat: Two Plays for Workers by Elaine Ávila has landed at Talonbooks. “The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin” recreates the events surrounding the mysterious death of Albert “Ginger” Goodwin, who led a strike at a Canadian zinc smelter in Trail, BC, that brought the WWI British war machine to a halt. In “Kitimat”, residents of an industry town in the BC wilderness struggle to decide between economic prosperity and environmental protection.⁠
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An excerpt from “The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin”:

“ANNA enters, hauling buckets of water. She pours them into

her laundry equipment. GINGER enters and offers to help, but

ANNA shrugs him off. She marches over to get his jacket off

the line, then hands it to GINGER. He puts it on, extremely

impressed – it’s like new. He touches it, pleased.

GINGER: Ta. (pause ) Thank you. (pause ) Why won’t you speak to me?

ANNA: You organize the strikes.

GINGER: Aye.

ANNA: Strikes are trouble.

GINGER: Does the strike bring trouble? Or was the trouble there before?

ANNA: Why did you come here?

GINGER: For work.

ANNA: Why?

GINGER: I was blacklisted.

ANNA: Trouble. You’re an agitator. Like Mr. Blaylock says.

GINGER: Selwyn Blaylock?

ANNA: Yes. I work for him on the weekends.

GINGER: At the mansion? At the top of the hill?

ANNA: Right.

GINGER: It must be nice there.”

These timely plays about labour rights and the human costs of business will move, educate, and entertain. Order your copy here.