“This isn’t a novel. This is rent. This is groceries. This is our lives,” said actress Lakisha May, in the new play “Catalyst Coffee,” a limited-run production that spotlighted the high stakes for workers fighting to unionize.
At the Greene Space in Soho, on the evening of September 23, 160 people gathered to attend the staged reading hosted by Food Tank, a research advocacy nonprofit. It was one of 15 events the organization held for Climate Week NYC, cementing its belief that sustainable food systems are inseparable from the climate change debate. The performance featured a Broadway-studded cast, including May, who also directed the play.
At the center of “Catalyst Coffee” are conflicts and negotiations leading up to a union vote at a coffee chain that shares the play’s name. While the witty banter and jokes about corporate quirks kept the audience laughing, the struggle over personal values and complexities of union organizing added a sobering note.
Actor Alex Morf portrayed a manipulative corporate lawyer who tried to convince workers to resist unionizing.
“I feel like one thing that this play touches on is that it’s complicated,” said Morf. Despite being a union member himself, he did not mind playing the opposite side. “That’s one of the gifts of being an actor. You get to expand your empathy a little bit for different people,” he said.
For the play’s creator and Food Tank’s cofounder, Bernard Pollack, presenting “Catalyst Coffee” during Climate Week was a matter of hope and urgency.
“Taking agency over our own work environment empowers us to take agency over other parts of our lives,” said Pollack. “It’s an empowerment vehicle,” he added, referring to Starbucks workers in Buffalo who spearheaded a union movement that has spread across the United States.
The focus on labor unions resonated with the audience.
“This isn’t emphasized enough when people talk about sustainability,” said Juliette Maners, an actor and a member of Broadway Green Alliance, who attended the play. “This is more about backtracking to what having a union does to push forward movement. It’s what helps keep people safe, and I think that’s a big part of sustainability.”
A talkback between Food Tank’s cofounder Danielle Nierenberg, Lakisha May, and journalist Chloe Sorvino who has reported extensively on the meatpacking industry, took place after the show.
Sorvino pointed to poultry workers as an example of laborers who need protections. “It’s really dangerous work that’s just getting more dangerous by day,” she said. “These unions are keeping people safe and protected in ways no one else is.”
The play ended with Catalyst Coffee baristas voting on the union campaign. But in a twist, the audience was told to make the decision. When asked if they voted in favor of unionizing, the crowd stood up in unison, erupting into a standing ovation in favor of organizing.
The pro-union stance of the audience left some wondering how the play might end in other cities.
“I hope that it is presented outside New York,” said actor Jadyn Kelly. “I think the whole point of theater is to promote change.”
Morf agreed.
“I hope that when people go to Starbucks, they’ll look at the workers a little differently and think about how difficult their job is,” he said.