ShawneeDispatch.com

Shawnee Mission Northwest High School theater students hope to bring the relevancy of a 1911 New York City fire to the stage this week with the opening of “The Triangle Factory Fire Project”.

The dramatic play takes viewers back in time through testimonials, eyewitness accounts and court documents recounting, moment by moment, the tragedy that killed 146 immigrant girls and women.

A cigarette caused a fire on the eighth, ninth and 10th floors of a dress factory. A series of events, including an unstable fire escape and locked doors on the ninth floor, led to the deaths.

The play culminates in the manslaughter trial of the factory owners. When they were acquitted of any wrongdoing, outrage spread across New York and the rest of the country. The events wound up shaping social and political policies.

The play is relevant today “because corporation responsibility hasn’t lessened, it’s just morphed,” said Keli Rodgers, SMNW theater teacher. “A lot of codes came into existence because of what happened at that factory.”

Rodgers said the audience could find parallels in the story to today’s financial industry, which has come under fire for its role in the country’s economic meltdown.

“People are going to see what they want to see,” she said.

Preparations for the play began about four weeks ago, expedited from the five to five and a half weeks students typically have when preparing a show, Rodgers said.

“I don’t plan too far in advance because you don’t know what students will be available,” she said.

Betzy Castellon, senior, said telling the story of the girls was difficult because, unlike fictional stories, you can’t stray far from the storyline.

“It’s harder with history but it makes it cooler,” she said. “There is so much information in this show, we want to get that information out to make an impact. We want the audience to know why these people died. It’s all in the small details.”

Alex Franklin, senior, said telling the story of the fire was a change of pace from previous productions.

“It’s enlightening to do something with real lives,” he said. “When the audience and the people acting realize that these girls were murdered, it’s a big deal. It’s so much easier to do a fictional story because it’s open to interpretation.”

Alex and Betzy said they are honored to be telling the story.

“We’re excited,” Betzy said. “We want the audience to walk away with a little more knowledge of this tragic story.”

“The Triangle Factory Fire Project” opens at 7 p.m. Thursday at the SMNW auditorium. The show also runs at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

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