Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

March 25th marks the 100th anniversary of the Shirtwaist Triangle Factory Fire. The factory, which produced blouses, was set ablaze after a mishap on the building’s eighth floor. Workers on the ninth floor, consisting of mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant women, were not notified in time to get out, and viable exit routes were previously locked by the factory’s owners, fearing the fire escapes would be used for theft. With no escape, some died of asphyxiation, others leapt from factory windows to the pavement nine stories below. All in all, 146 workers died that day. The aftermath of the tragedy resulted in the deadliest industrial accident in the history of New York City, and the fourth largest in U.S. history. The fire created a public outrage, calling for safety inspections in factories. This cry for regulation served as fodder for America’s labor movement, and, in many cases, saved lives.

Elizabeth Swados

Writer and director Elizabeth Swados has a knack for merging social activism, music and theater. Her professional career kicked off with “Runaways,” a play about inner-city child runaways, which started as a local community service piece and grew into a full-fledged Tony-winning Broadway production. It comes as no surprise that Swados worked with the “Remembering the Fire Coalition” to create “From the Fire,” a choral work marking the 100th anniversary of the Shirtwaist Triangle Factory Fire. Sung by students of Eugene Lang College’s New School for Liberal Arts, the piano-accompanied chorus details the dramatic moments leading up to the fire. The work is being performed from March 23rd – March 27th, 2011, at the historic Judson Memorial Church at Washington Square, a mere two blocks from the location of the disaster.

Here’s a video of an earlier performance of the work: