"Sweet and low or loud and clear,
there's a song each of us sings.
Come together, feel the power
of voices raised.
Though at times we strain to hear,
hope is calling; freedom rings,
always answering the sound
of voices raised."

-Voices Raised
a song about rights
sung by The Farmer,
played by Phyllis Chapell

words & music by K. Niemela
drawing by S. Teare
animation by G. McGarity-Alegrett

"Our fate's bound
inextricably,
in justice and in liberty.
Rise or fall,
we'll always be
together, indivisibly."

-Indivisibly
a song about responsibility
sung by The Mother,
played by Venissa Santi

words & music by K. Niemela
drawing by S. Teare
animation by G. McGarity-Alegrett

"You've nothing to fear
but the fear that has bound you,
so join hands together,
continue the dance!"

-Life Turns on a Dime (reprise)
a reminder of life's changeability
sung by FDR,
played by Bill Gross

words & music by K. Niemela
drawing by S. Teare
animation by G. McGarity-Alegrett

"Can you see
your own reflection in me,
the frailty and the sublime?
Can you offer hope
and opportunity?
Brother, sister, neighbor
- citizens all -
can you spare a dime?"

-Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?
an iconic anthem from the 1930s
sung by the entire cast

words by Y. Harburg, music by J. Gorney
additional lyrics by K. Niemela
drawing by S. Teare
animation by G. McGarity-Alegrett

"Life is a dimestore,
and we are its wares,
our dreams on a shelf
left where nobody cares.
A dime a dozen,
our story's the same:
nothing to hope for,
and no one to blame."

-Dimestore Lullaby
a song about escape
sung by The Mother,
played by Venissa Santi

words & music by K. Niemela
drawing by S. Teare
animations by G. McGarity-Alegrett

"I call forth
a new progressive army:
citizens of ev'ry faith and party!
If you've eyes to see
and hearts to understand,
if your burdened conscience
cares for your fellow man,
step up for a better tomorrow!
Step up for a brighter today!

-Step Up for a Better Tomorrow
a song announcing the WPA
sung by FDR,
played by Bill Gross

words & music by K. Niemela
drawing by S. Teare
animations by G. McGarity-Alegrett

"If you give a man a dole,
you save his body, not his soul.
If you give him work to do,
you save his body and soul, too!"

-Work Is Progress
a song celebrating WPA slogans
sung by FDR &
the Chorus of Liberty

words & music by K. Niemela
drawing by S. Teare
animations by G. McGarity-Alegrett

"Though chaos swirls 'round us
and tries to confound us
by coaxing us into
a motionless trance,
we've nothing to fear
but the fear that has bound us,
so, bravely, we choose
to continue to dance."

-Life Turns on a Dime
a song about life's changeability
sung by FDR,
played by Bill Gross

words & music by K. Niemela
drawing by S. Teare
animation by G. McGarity-Alegrett

"I finally understood
and changed my views:
there really is no 'us and them,'
no differences, especially when
we're all stuck in
a big Pocket of Blues!"

-Pocket of Blues
a song about economic crisis
sung by The Merchant,
played by Khrista White

words & music by K. Niemela
drawing by S. Teare
animation by G. McGarity-Alegrett

"No livelihood, no dream to plan,
unable to survive –
what happened to my homeland,
where everyone could thrive?"

-Foundation of Hope
a song about unemployment
sung by The Builder,
played by Victor Rodriguez

words & music by K. Niemela
drawing by S. Teare
animation by G. McGarity-Alegrett

"Life turns on a dime.
A life in its prime
meets with sudden decline, loss, and pain,
yet summons the will
to inspire and instill
all the disciplined skill
that we need to fulfill and attain
the hopes we would claim."
- from Life Turns on a Dime,
sung by FDR in Spare A Dime

In 1921, at the age of 39, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was stricken with polio and left paralyzed from the waist down.  Before his illness, he had lived a life of privilege.  He had been born into wealth; he had served as assistant secretary of the Navy and had been a candidate for Vice President.  Unwilling to accept that his career in public life was over and believing that he would walk again, FDR searched for ways to alleviate his paralysis.  A friend told him about how the mineral-rich waters of a resort at Warm Springs, Georgia had helped a young man with polio, and FDR immediately traveled there, despite the objections of his family.

Swimming in the waters at Warm Springs, FDR eventually learned to stand on his own by strengthening his atrophied leg and hip muscles.  His success drew national publicity, and other hopeful polio patients traveled to Warm Springs from all over the country.  In 1926, FDR purchased the resort and founded Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, a world-renown polio treatment center, still serving individuals with neuro-muscular disorders today. In 1932, early his first term as President, FDR built a tiny six room cottage at Warm Springs dubbed the "Little White House." He stayed at Warm Springs for at least a month every year (except for 1942 at the beginning of World War II) and died at the cottage in 1945. 

Lore has it that FDR enjoyed the serenity of the woods behind the Little White House (photo by Spare A Dime composer Kimberly Niemela, above), and that his time at Warm Springs, whether overcoming his own obstacles, sharing experiences with other polio patients, or working alone at the cottage, influenced his design and development of New Deal programs.  He wrote, "The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation.  It is common sense to take a method and try it.  If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.  But above all, try something.  The millions who are in want will not stand by silently forever while the things to satisfy their needs are within easy reach.  We need enthusiasm, imagination and the ability to face facts, even unpleasant ones, bravely... Yours is not the task of making your way in the world, but the task of remaking the world which you will find before you.  May every one of us be granted the courage, the faith and the vision to give the best that is in us to that remaking!"

"My entire family was affected by the Great Depression and often told stories about it," said vocalist Bill Gross. "My dad had to cut back from working five days to four days, and as the economic situation worsened, my grandmother eventually had to move in with us."  Gross plays President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Spare A Dime, enhancing the performance with his powerful baritenor and theatrical equanimity.

Gross is a musical theater veteran, having played over thirty roles in thirty years, from opera to operetta, from Broadway to Gilbert & Sullivan.  He has appeared with numerous regional theater companies including Rose Valley Chorus & Orchestra, Stagecrafters, Hedgerow Theater, Players Club of Swarthmore, Narberth Community Theater, Dramateurs and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of West Chester.  Now, he's happy to add COSACOSA to his list.  His roles have ranged from Hadj in Kismet (pictured) and King Arthur in Camelot to Frederic in Pirates of Penanze and Gabriel von Eisenstein, Dr. Falke, and Alfredo in Die Fledermaus.  Born in Philadelphia and raised in Trenton, Gross studied at Yale University where he was a member of the famed Whiffenpoof Singers.  Off-stage, Gross coaches on how to give effective presentations and serves on nonprofit boards and committees. 

Click here to get your tickets to Spare A Dime today!

The GG1 design reflected streamlined, futuristic style of the era.  Because of its visual appeal, the GG1 purportedly has appeared in more advertisements and motion pictures than any other train.  Its screen credits range from The Broadway Limited in 1941, to The Manchurian Candidate in 1962, to Avalon in 1990. The locomotive was even the main character of a popular computer game released in 1998.

In spite of the locomotive's long and iconic record of service, the GG1 pulled the funeral car of only one American president (who also had a long and iconic record of service): FDR.

The Spare A Dime song cycle tells the stories of six archetypal American characters during the Great Depression, both before and after the founding of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) sings his perspective, too, through songs based on iconic speeches of the time.   

Punctuating key moments in the performance are appearances by Spare A Dime's rousing Chorus of Liberty.  In the first half of the piece, in the midst of one character's despair, this ebullient group appears on stage with a giant, spinning Winged Liberty dime. The Chorus sings Suns of Liberty, a celebration of/admonition about ever-present (though often hard to maintain) ideals of freedom and democracy. 

In the second act, Chorus members take on the role of civil society sloganeers with Work is Progress, a song recounting many WPA poster sayings and describing the full diversity of WPA employment opportunities.   At the end of Spare A Dime, the Chorus of Liberty -- and their giant dime -- join the rest of the cast for the final numbers of the show. 

You can join Spare A Dime, too, at PIFA 13!  Get your tickets today!

WWI and the roaring 20s brought increased demand for American grain worldwide.  The government encouraged farmers to grow more and expand their land holdings.  With food prices on the rise, they willingly complied, taking out large mortgages for new land and new equipment.  Even when, after the other nations of the world recovered from the war and were able to grow their own food, grain prices fell, American farmers continued to borrow money; credit was easily had.  Once the Depression came, farm foreclosures became everyday events.  In the Midwest, the farmers' dire economic situation was exacerbated by the Dust Bowl.  

FDR's New Deal attempted to remedy these problems through multiple programs.  The WPA provided jobs for those who had lost their lands.  The Civilian Conservation Corps restored farm lands devastated by dust storms.  The Farm Security Administration experimented with resettling sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and submarginal landowners into group farms on viable lands. 

Those farmers who were able to retain ownership of their land survived the Great Depression growing their own food and trading goods for other supplies they needed, like our Spare A Dime character The Farmer. Our Farmer survives on hard work and hope.  She sings about those two essential qualities of American life in Promised Land, (the duet with The Immigrant described yesterday).  In the second half of Spare A Dime, she sings Voices Raised, an anthem to both individual rights and mutual aid.  The Farmer is based on Director/Composer Kimberly Niemela's paternal grandmother, a first generation American who raised ten children on a Pennsylvania farm during the Great Depression.  She is also an homage to Philadelphia's determined urban growers, especially those in COSACOSA's partner communities of Passyunk Square and Nicetown-Tioga.  As one North Philly elder told us, "You have to nurture hope just like seed for it to become what it's supposed to be."  Join us at PIFA 13 and help nurture the hopes of communities all over our city!

Tomorrow's post is our final character profile: The Mother!

Before the start of the Great Depression, many laws had been passed barring certain ethnic groups from coming to the United States.  The deepening economic collapse tightened the flow of immigration to almost a standstill.  During the 1930s even refugees from Nazi persecution were restricted from entering the country through ethnic quotas.  Asians were blocked entirely.  Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and Mexican Americans were "repatriated."  Anti-immigrant sentiment was widespread.

In COSACOSA's Spare A Dime, the character of The Immigrant raises questions about the sustainability of the American dream, singing of "promises made, promises broken" in Promised Land, a duet with The Farmer.  The song uses two of FDR's "four freedoms" -- freedom from fear and freedom from want -- to describe democracy and possible paths to prosperity for both our characters and the nation.  In the second part of the song cycle, The Immigrant is now employed by the WPA's Federal Project Number One. He documents the era by "seeing the world through another's eyes," as described in his song Changing Places.

The Immigrant character is based in histories recorded by Federal One during the Depression and in a multiplicity of stories collected from COSACOSA constituents all over the city today, especially neighbors in South Philadelphia, were we work with first generation Americans of over thirty different nationalities.  No matter where in the world their country of origin, their goal for life in the U.S. remains the same.  As one youth explained, "a chance for peace and for a better life is all we need..."  Experience even more perspectives by joining us at PIFA 13!  Buy your tickets today!

Tomorrow's character post?  The Farmer!