I wrote book & lyrics for a new Musical!  This weekend only at the College. 

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_8406078?nclick_check=1

Review: 'Rosie' story gets beautiful treatment

By Pat Craig

STAFF WRITER

Article Launched: 02/29/2008 06:46:00 AM PST

"Rivets," a challenging and ambitious musical saga of women war workers 

and life on the World War II home front, premiered in a workshop 

production Thursday at San Pablo's Contra Costa College.

Written by Kathryn G. McCarty, with music by Mitchell Covington the play 

is set in various locations around the Bay Area, but primarily the 

Kaiser shipyards in the Richmond area that turned out liberty ships at a 

breakneck pace throughout the early '40s.

It's the story of Rosie the Riveter -- women who were employed in the 

shipyards, doing "men's work" because the men were at war. It's a 

tumultuous tale of the enormous social changes and a mass migration to 

the Bay Area from throughout the country for the lucrative war jobs.

And, although the Rosies were ultimately successful, the transition was 

tough, with racial attitudes imported by the new arrivals to the East 

Bay, sexual stereotypes held fast by some of the men and women venturing 

into uncharted territory, and an enormous uncertainty of not only how 

the war will change the world, but how America will be radically altered 

by the new roles for people.

McCarty tells a sweeping story, beautifully staged by Clay David, who 

has managed the near-impossible task of making a cast of 50 not only 

look interesting on the stage, but drive the story as they moved across 

the representational shipyard set.

This weekend's performances are billed as workshops, and, indeed, this 

is the first time the play has been performed for an audience, and the 

cast, of students and people from the general public, rose to the 

occasion with a well wrought and nicely paced production.

In the future (and there will be several other stagings of the show, 

leading to a production aboard the Liberty Shop, Live Oak Victory in 

Richmond in October), McCarty may want to focus the show on fewer 

subplots, which would sharpen the impact of the piece and ultimately 

tell a more satisfying story by allowing some of the characters to 

emerge from the musical more fully developed.

Perhaps the strongest feature of "Rivets" is the decision to leave the 

story in its time, with no bow to contemporary sensibilities. While this 

may be harsh in places, it also presents an accurate picture of 

attitudes of the time, and makes the fact all these wildly different 

people were able to come together and produce ships at record speed. It 

also makes the patriotism and single-minded attention to the war effort 

all the more poignant.

Reach Pat Craig at 925-945-4736 or pcraig@...

"Rivets," by Kathryn G. McCarty and Mitchell Covington

Jean and John Knox Performing Arts Center, Contra Costa College, San Pablo

8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday

2 hours

$15

510-235-7800 X4274

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