Boilermakers & Martinis,
is Emanuel Fried's first new play in nearly a decade. In this one man show Emanuel Fried presents the true story of his notorious
career as a union organizer and champion of American civil liberties, set
against the backdrop of the greatest romance of his life.
Boilermakers & Martinis is an
autobiographical work, which depicts Fried’s struggle to keep his life as a
union leader separate from his married life to a local blue-blood socialite.
Fried worked as a Labor Organizer with United Electrical Radio from 1941-1956,
representing 30,000 union members. The FBI labeled him as a symbol of the Left
that must be broken. When they couldn’t get at him, they went after his wife
and kids, and he began to realize that he could not keep his two worlds apart.
Boilermakers & Martinis
is the second installment of Road Less Traveled Productions Emanuel Fried
Retrospective. Last Season, RLTP presented
The Dodo Bird . For more information on past performances see our previous
season page.
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Emanuel Fried has received
several awards for his work with unions including:
the Joe Hill Award from national AFL-CIO sponsored Labor Heritage
Foundation for lifetime contribution to the cause of labor through the arts,
the Peace Award from Western New York Peace Center for lifetime
dedication "to cause of peace and to the struggle for social justice," and the
Coalition for Economic Justice Award for lifetime contribution to the
cause of social justice. He was named one of One Hundred Most Influential
Western New Yorkers In The Twentieth Century by Buffalo's NBC affiliate
WGRZ-TV Ch. 2. He even received
a congratulatory letter from Albert Einstein for
having challenged the House Un-American Activities Committee as to its
constitutionality.
Colin Dabkowski at the Buffalo News gave it 3 1/2 Stars saying,When
Fried, Buffalo's uncontested elder statesman of the theater, bares his soul
onstage in his new one-man retrospective Boilermakers and Martinis, it is
a theatrical experience that manages to be intimate, epic, heart-wrenching
and deeply funny all in the same shot. He continues,Boilermakers
and Martinis is a play for anyone who has ever felt trapped. It is a
fascinating and sobering way to put one’s own problems in perspective and —
even if it's not Fried's swan song — an absolute must see.
All Road Less
Traveled Productions are made possible with public funds from the New
York State Council on the Arts a state agency. RLTP is also very
thankful to our show sponsor and 2006-7 Season Sponsor the Law Firm of
Cantor, Lukasik, Dolce, & Panepinto, P.C.
