Michele Moore, author of the 2016 novel “The Cigar Factory,” has been adapting the book into a two-act stage play and now is ready to share the results. The work in progress will be given a staged reading at Queen Street Playhouse, 20 Queen St., at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, and at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22.
The story is set in Charleston during the first half of the 20th century and follows two working-class Catholic women and their families. Meliah Amey Ravenel is African American; Cassie McGonegal is Irish American. Both work at the Cigar Factory, Meliah downstairs stemming leaves, Cassie upstairs rolling cigars. Both endure hardships within a segregated society — until the labor strike of 1945 causes their lives to intersect.
Anthony McCutcheon as Sam Maybank, Mario Richardson as Young Kofi and Asha Simmons as Mrs. Huger rehearse a scene from “The Cigar Factory.” Provided.
The play, directed by Charlotte Tiencken, features a cast that includes Mary Edwards, Anthony McCutchen, Asha Simmons, Jordan Peeler, Dejevon Mazyck and Mario Richardson.
Moore’s novel was carefully researched, and she consulted with Lowcountry residents and historians to ensure she could represent successfully Gullah culture and the struggles of workers coping with urban poverty during a period of transition in the city. A feature of the story is the song “I Will Overcome,” which has origins on Johns Island and which the Cigar Factory workers sang together for moral support during the labor crisis.
The song later was modified by Pete Seeger to become the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”
Tickets to the play are $15 each. Go to .
