Bread and Roses Missouri amplifies and elevates the stories of working people through the arts and humanities. We are proud to be the ONLY arts organization in Missouri focused on the stories of the working class and their families.
Our Workers Theatre Project brings original work about the working class struggle for social and economic justice to St. Louis audiences. Recent Workers Theatre Projects include A Brick and a Bible, our February, 2026 premiere play with music about the Funsten Nutpickers Strike, led by Black women in Depression-era St. Louis. Our podcast of an original play, Mrs. Palmer's Honey by Cassandra Medley, based on the 1940s novel by Fannie Cook, is now available on Spotify. We presented 1877, a play by Colin McLaughlin about the General Strike of 1877 in St. Louis. This was a critical event in St. Louis history as well as Labor Movement history, and we brought this little-known story to St. Louis audiences in November, 2023 at the Missouri History Museum Lee Auditorium. In August, 2024 we premiered The Caregiving Project, an original play by St. Louis playwright Mariah Richardson, based on the collected stories of St. Louis caregivers, both paid and unpaid.
The Workers Theatre Project also produces The Workers' Opera, performed by St. Louis "workers turned actors." They bring the legacy of the labor movement and contemporary stories to life through word, song and historical reenactments to illuminate the ongoing struggle for economic justice and workers' rights. The Workers' Opera gives an opportunity for working class people to participate in a creative process, and raise their voices to tell the audience what matters to them. In 2023 we partnered with the Missouri Workers' Center to include the stories of Amazon workers fighting to organize and form a union in the St. Louis area and nationally. In 2024 we toured our Workers' Opera to Columbia, Springfield and Kansas City.
Your donation on Give STL Day 2025 will help support our Workers' Theater Projects, including our new project, The Workers' Choir, a no-audition, inclusive choir that give working people the opportunity to experience the joy of singing in community. Plus, we'll premiere our next Workers' Opera in October, 2026!
The Youth Initiative combines art and activism in summer program settings. Through visual, verbal, performing arts, we empower "community actors" who can begin to use their creative skills to engage in actions that lead to social change. The program connects youth ages 7-12 with professional teaching artists who work with them to create high-quality art projects; to explore healthy choices for themselves and their mental and physical well-being; and to explore how the arts can be a tool to make change in their own communities.
We pay artists to lead workshops at St. Louis City Parks and Recreation centers that mostly serve Black and immigrant youth. This year we will also provide summer workshops to 12 St. Louis City and County venues where youth gather. The program served over 600 youth in 2025, and we are currently preparing for another busy summer.
Read our 2024 Impact report.