In 1998, acclaimed author Barbara Ehrenreich set out to research low-wage life firsthand, confident she was prepared for the worst. Very quickly, she discovered that no job is truly "unskilled," that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort. She also learned that one job is not enough; you need at least two if you want to live indoors. Ehrenreich’s experience, detailed in her vivid and witty best-selling novel, revealed low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity.

Joan Holden’s stage adaptation navigates the plight of the working middle class--those whose reality is a life in a low-paying, dead end job with no way out--through the lens of Barbara working as a hotel maid making $7 an hour. In conversations with her co-workers and others, there is humor, heart, and strength to be found in their shared struggles. The play shows us the life one-third of working Americans now lead and makes us angry that anyone should have to live it.

The show will be presented April 20 & 21 at 7:30pm at Thunder Coffee (300 Sheyenne St #190, West Fargo) in a reader's theatre format (limited staging, scripts in hand). All tickets will be "Pay What You Will" with a suggestion donation of $10.00.