HELLO. I'M JACK Rasmus, playwright-producer, and chair of the San Francisco Bay Area unit of the National Writers Union, UAW 1981, AFLCIO.

This past summer I wrote and produced the new labor play, "Fire on Pier 32", which was performed to sell-out audiences in San Francisco. "Fire on Pier 32" is a full-length, 2.5 hr., play with 12 actors and musicians. It is the story of the ILWU from its birth in the 1934 San Francisco maritime and general strikes, up to the events of the company-Bush lockout of 2002. There are 16 scenes, and eight new original labor songs. The play is in the Epic tradition and includes more than 50 historical photos from the ILWU film archives. The first act (9 scenes) covers the events of the 1934 strikes and the birth of the ILWU. Subsequent acts scenes address the formation of the Maritime Federation of the Pacific in the 1930s, the ILWU's 'March Inland' to organize warehouse workers, the organizing drive of Hawaii, the fight against Taft-Hartley, the ILWU's 1948 and 1971 strikes, the struggle with mechanization in the 1960s, and the lockout of 2002 and the new attack of Bush and friends on the ILWU (and the rest of us).  The main theme is about labor solidarity and employer-government offensives against Labor, past and present.

The play was endorsed and financially supported in part by the San Francisco labor council, many of its affiliated unions, the ILWU locals up and down the coast, the ILWU Longshore and Coast Committees, and the ILWU International office.

Although produced in a studio following the stage run, this is a video of a stage drama (not a documentary) set to multimedia Following the stage run of the play, I and the cast and crew produced the DVD (or VHS) version of the play, which is now available for purchase for $20 plus $3 S/H.

Thanks.

Jack Rasmus, Playwright-Producer
Kyklos Productions
Chair, Unit 3, National Writers Union, UAW 1981
211 Duxbury Ct.
San Ramon, CA 94583
925-828-0792
925-209-3933 (Cell)