Montclair Theater Will Aid Wildfire Victims With Show Proceeds

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of a Patch Montclair community member. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

In its time, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in downtown Manhattan's Asch Building in what is now SoHo, held the record for the most fire fatalities in New York City. In a matter of minutes, the March 1911 blaze consumed three floors of the building, killing nearly 150 people, mostly young immigrant women, and shaking the city to its core. The tragedy became a catalyst for social reforms, from unionization and occupational safety to women’s rights and immigrant policies. Ensuing trials captured the public’s attention and resulted in new labor laws and safety standards being enacted and enforced across the country. “The Triangle Factory Fire Project” refocuses attention on these events and issues, still relevant and timely, even after more than a century.

By untimely coincidence and in an ironic twist of fate, Los Angeles-based playwright Christopher Piehler, who authored the documentary-style historical recreation in collaboration with director Scott Alan Evans, recently was evacuated from his California home in order to escape the devastating, destructive wildfires burning there.

“When we included ‘Triangle Factory’ in our 2024-2025 season, we had no way of knowing our production would become unfortunately timely,” said Studio Players President E. Dale Smith-Gallo. “We are keenly aware that, as we tell the story of a tragic fire, firefighters in California are battling wildfires that have ravaged their state. We don’t take lightly the decision to move forward with our production and hope to shine a spotlight on the work of California Community Foundation Wildfire Recovery Fund.” www.pledge.to/ccfwildfirerelieffund

In a message to Studio Playhouse, playwright Christopher Piehler recalled, “On March 25, 1911, a fire exploded in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, killing 146 people. Most of the dead were girls in their teens and twenties, and witnesses were horrified to see them jump out of windows rather than die in the flames. I began work on ‘Triangle Factory’ in Manhattan in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, when some of the 2,996 victims made that same, awful, final choice. Having survived the chaos that followed the shocking collapse of the Twin Towers, we asked ourselves the same question that fortunate survivors of catastrophes ask: ‘What can we do?’”

“Our mission,” Piehler explained, “was to tell the Triangle fire story in the voices of the people who lived and died that terrible day, so nearly all dialogue in the play was spoken or written by the women and men who were there. I remember crying in the audience on opening night, my gut-wrenching grief leavened by a bone-deep gratitude for the community of artists who came together to create this harrowing and, I hope, uplifting story.”

“I’m writing this in Los Angeles,” Piehler added, “as catastrophic fires continue to take lives and turn entire neighborhoods to ash. After a brief evacuation, I’m now back home. As I was after September 11, I’m grateful to be alive, grateful for the people around me, who are already asking, ‘What can we do?’ and grateful to Studio Playhouse for generously donating some of the proceeds of this production to the California Community Foundation Wildfire Recovery Fund. I’m also deeply and sincerely grateful to every single member of the audience for coming together in this theater to witness how, in the wake of fire and horror and death, we survivors can come together to honor the dead by striving to make the world a safer, fairer place for the living.”

Directed by Eric Robitaille, featuring Montclair residents Atilla Toy and Alec J. Wolf, along with Matt Marino, Tara Spinelli, Allen Roberts, Jessica Lynn, Jessica Jones, Donna Fraissinet, Judy Espaillat, Evan Dassler-Pardalos, Karen Koronkiewicz, Ava Silverman, Griffin Harris, Shail Choksi, Gabrielle Smith, Jessa Blackthorne.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.studioplayhouse.org (up to one hour prior to showtime) or by calling the box office directly at (973) 744-9752. Studio Playhouse is located at 14 Alvin Place in Montclair, NJ.

EVENING PERFORMANCES

• January 31, February 1, 7, 8, 2025
• 8:00 PM – 10:30 PM

MATINEE PERFORMANCES

• February 2, 2025
• 3:00 PM – 5:30 PM

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