September 1, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
Aug. 23-22, 2019
LOCAL
CLASSIFIEDS
PAG E 15
KEEP AN EYE OUT: Sunset Park 8-year-old Isabelle Romero, left, rehearses for her role as one of the Three Fates, in the Public Theater’s production of “Hercules,”
opening in Central Park’s Delacorte Theater on Aug. 31. Joan Marcus
SHOW OF STRENGTH
‘Hercules’ musical makes stars of amateur Brooklyn actors
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
They can go the distance!
A phalanx of non-professional
actors from two Brooklyn
community groups will
make up a Greek chorus for
a new mythical musical on
the distant isle of Manhattan.
The theatrical adaptation of
the 1997 Disney film “Hercules,”
playing at Central Park’s
Delacorte Theater from Aug.
31 to Sept. 8, will feature 61
Brooklynites making their
Off-Broadway debuts.
The Public Theater, known
for its popular “Shakespeare
in the Park” series, recruited
more than 200 amateur actors
from across the five boroughs
to play minor parts in the allsinging,
all-dancing tale of a
Greek demi-god going from
zero to hero. Among those
new thespians are a Sunset
Park dad and his two daughters,
who were recently bitten
by the acting bug.
“If you would have told me
that I would be in ‘Hercules,’
I wouldn’t have believed you,”
said Marvin Romero. “This is
our really first theater that
we’ve done. We’ve never done
anything like this and to be a
part of it is amazing.”
The show follows the plot of
the animated Disney film, and
features six songs from its Oscar
nominated score by composer
Alan Menken and lyricist
David Zippel, who wrote
several additional songs for
the performance. Romero
found himself transported
back to his childhood by hearing
the original music, which
he would sing with his daughters
on the way home from rehearsals.
“We go home every day
singing it. It’s stuck in our
heads, we’re in the train singing,”
he said. “I felt like a kid
again.”
Tempehs
fl aring!
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Labor leaders are accusing
management at the Park Slope
Food Co-op of violating employees’
efforts to unionize by refusing to
sign a “neutrality pledge,” despite
a recent settlement with federal labor
authorities.
“They’re not just squashing
the unionization efforts. They’re
intimidating workers,” said labor
organizer Chelsea Connor.
“They’ve taken retaliatory measures
against employees.”
Workers are demanding management
at Park Slope’s unique
brand of food-based communism
sign a “neutrality pledge” committing
the store to refrain from taking
any action that would stymie
their effort to organize, which has
so far been plagued by accusations
of union busting on the part of the
market’s granola-munching leadership.
“Companies aren’t allowed to
retaliate against unionization efforts,
but many of them do — as
is the case with the Food Co-op —
because labor laws aren’t strong
enough,” said Connor. “So, neutrality
agreements offer an added
layer of protection to workers
while they’re going through the
unionization process.”
The Union Street grocery store
between Sixth and Seventh avenues
employs 72 full-time paid
staffers, who work hand-in-hand
with co-op members that contribute
two hours and 45 minutes of labor
per month in exchange for the
right to purchase cheap, organic
produce and use the supermarket
as a platform to advocate for international
issues .
The paid staffers’ effort to
unionize gained headlines in April,
when the New York Post reported
on several veiled threats that co-op
managers allegedly aimed at workers,
including one store head who
Continued on page 12 Continued on page 14
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