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Elizabeth Gurley Flynn describes them as "songs to fan the flames of discontent. The songs have power in them to weld people into one," she tells Joe Hill when she visits him in prison late in local playwright Debora Threedy's "One Big Union," making its world premiere at Plan-B Theatre Company in Salt Lake City.

Threedy uses Joe Hill's simple, but stirring, songs to shape the story she tells about the iconic labor agitator who was executed in Utah in 1915 in an incident still shrouded in shame and mystery. Thanks to Jason Bowcutt's intuitive direction, David Evanoff's sharp, sensible musical direction and Stephanie Howell's imaginative choreography, which keeps the cast constantly in motion, this production flows so effortlessly from scene to scene that it evolves the lyrical rhythm of one unending song.

Threedy focuses the play, framed by Hill's song "There Is Power in a Union," on Hill's arrest, trial and conviction for shooting John Morrison and his son in their grocery store in 1914. The trial takes many missteps, but other factors enter into play. Although Hill naïvely says his situation is personal and has nothing to do with the Independent Workers of the World (or Wobblies), the local press describes him as "a defendant who was an outsider and belongs to an unsavory group."

And Hill is not guiltless in his own tragedy; his stubbornness and pride play a part. He refuses to testify to protect the identity of the woman and man who could give him an alibi, and when offered the possibility of a pardon, he insists instead on a new trial to prove the injustice of the original one, something Gov. William Spry says he has no power to grant.

Threedy also uses the songs to flash back to other Wobbly labor disputes and provide snapshots of a movement. The cast, accompanied by Roger Dunbar's Hill on the guitar, sing together and act out the songs. "Rebel Girl" prompts the play's most poignant scene, where Flynn visits Hill before his death and he confides she was the inspiration for the song. Dunbar and Tracie Merrill, who plays Flynn, create a cocoon of calm amid the furor of the controversy surrounding Hill. Their quiet, uncluttered communication produces one of the most memorable moments in this dynamic production.

Dunbar's Hill is a consummate combination of soft-spoken practicality and steely resolve, and the actor even looks like Hill. "Don't mourn; organize" are his final words, along with his ironic wish, "I don't want to be found dead in Utah." Merrill's Flynn is passionate and poetic, describing Hill as "the poet laureate of labor, the troubadour of discontent." Carleton Bluford's straightforward narrator, Working Stiff, bridges scenes and is full of little-known facts about Hill. And Daniel Beecher, April Fossen and Jay Perry play all the other characters in an energetic flurry of accents and approaches.

Keven Myhre's simple wooden set leaves plenty of playing space, even in the small Studio Theatre, and Jesse Portillo's lighting is mellow and moody. Aaron Swenson's down-to-earth costumes feature homespun browns and grays. Cheryl Ann Cluff's sound design of train whistles and echoing rifle shots is haunting.

Threedy's play and Dunbar's portrayal cut through the mythology that surrounds Hill to expose the humanity of the person underneath, and the rhetoric of the past week finds an uncanny and uncomfortable echo in a couple of the lines when Flynn says, "This is all about class; America is at war." —

'One Big Union'

Debora Threedy's eloquent and lyrical play and Roger Dunbar's insightful portrayal cut through the myth to reveal the human being who was Joe Hill in Plan-B's memorable production.

When • Reviewed on Nov. 10; plays Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 4 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 and 5:30 p.m., through Nov. 20.

Where • Studio Theatre at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway, Salt Lake City

Tickets • $20, $10 for students. Call 801-355-ARTS or visit artsaltlake.org for tickets and http://www.planbtheatre.org for more information.

Running time • 85 minutes (no intermission)

Wait list • A prepaid wait list begins one hour before show time in the Rose Wagner box office. Patrons must be present to be added to the list. Full refunds will be given to those not seated for the performance.