Cultural Response
Contributed by : Jacqueline Kirley
Object # 2209
April 7, 2011
“The Ninth Floor Door: Blocked Justice of the Triangle Fire” by Mary Bonnett used historical texts and original documents to dramatize the trial of factory owners charged with locking a ninth-floor door. During the trial three different women described their experience of being in the fire, of watching—horrified—as bodies plummeted from on high and their heartbreak of identifying dead relatives. The announcer/guitarist read names and ages of the dead and played period songs as power-point slides offered background facts. Applause was somber and eyes moist at play’s end.