The "Work" Project | The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

People's Light will collaborate with the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) to develop research and the building blocks for a theater piece that explores the question: What is meaningful work in the 21st century? People's Light hopes to learn from NTS artists' process of devising theater pieces in direct response to a community's urgent concerns. Over the course of this collaboration, participating artists will engage in discussions about the history of work, speak to contemporary thinkers on the subject, and hold investigative workshops with local residents, led by one team in Glasgow and another team in the Philadelphia region. A range of voices will be included in the workshops, including blue-collar workers, retirees, students, and the unemployed. Two additional residencies for the participating teams, at different points in the process, one in Glasgow and one at People's Light's Malvern campus, will allow the artists to discuss their findings and to determine next steps toward building an original theater work.