| I’d like to invite you to my new one-woman show, The Stupid Economy.
Written by award-winning Dubuque playwright Robert Lynn, The Stupid Economy explores the stories of six women as they struggle with their personal economies. Pam Babler is a clueless robo-signer, called to explain her actions at a deposition. Carolyn is a single mother who falls in a deep hole when she uses drugs to cope with her husband’s death and her need to find work. LaMonica Johnson struggles through a series of "odd" jobs, looking for legitimate work and trying to keep her five daughters in line. Summer is a young, attractive, former drug rep working the system and trying to find the job she knows is out there for her. Louise is an old-money matron who doesn’t like how the country has changed. Cindy Trenette is a spendthrift housewife forced to reform her habits when faced with an unusual repossession. A nameless corporate insider narrates the show, telling the audience the truth about how corporations and government operate. The characters return at the end to give their thoughts on how we got into this mess, and how we get out.
Throughout, we see not only how the economy has affected people, but the different ways that people have affected the economy. In addition to the economy, the play touches on everything from the college experience to Chinese production, racism, refinancing, politicians, and magic dogs, in the end providing a launching point for a conversation we all need to have about where we've been and where we're going.
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