BASTA! NO MORE FEAR! Remembering the Hoggs Hollow Disaster of 1960
By the Toronto Workers’ Theatre Group
Date & Time
May 7, 8, 9, 10 at 7:30PM
May 11 at 2PM
Location
United Steelworkers Building Hall
25 Cecil St.
Toronto, ON
Accessibility
This venue is wheelchair accessible and has gender neutral, wheelchair accessible washrooms. For any questions relating to accessibility, please email programming@mayworks.ca
Join the Toronto Workers’ Theatre Group for a production remembering the Hoggs Hollow disaster of 1960.
On a cold, windswept field in North York, tragedy struck on 17 March 1960. Five immigrant Italian labourers died when a fire broke out in a water main tunnel they were digging under the Don River.
Their horrific deaths exposed the unsafe working conditions on these construction sites, the indifference of managers, the incompetence of government inspectors, and the widespread exploitation of vulnerable newcomers like these men. There had been other serious industrial accidents in Toronto before, but this tragedy sparked a major response. Journalists wrote long columns decrying the mismanagement and the ongoing exploitation. A coroner’s inquiry blasted bosses and government officials. Thousands of Italian workers rose up in anger, and a huge union organizing drive took off. Eventually the provincial government introduced some long-overdue new health and safety legislation. Out of the public eye, families of the victims struggled to cope with their grief. “Basta! No More Fear!” is their story.
Written by Craig Heron, Gilberto Fernandes, Franca Iacovetta
Directed by Aida Jordão
Registration required, details TBA! All Mayworks Festival events are free.
The Toronto Workers’ Theatre Group is a component of the Toronto Workers’ History Project. The project is dedicated to producing short, original plays on the history of working people in Toronto. The group has staged plays on the impact of the Russian Revolution, the fight for an OFL Women’s Committee, the battle against child labour, the Metro Days of Action, and the Toronto general strike of 1919, Emma Goldman’s last visit to Toronto, and the Housewives Consumer Association in Toronto. Creating and staging the plays is a collective process that brings together a rich diversity of writing, directing, and acting experiences. In their performances, the group aims to engage and involve the audience in order to bring to life some dramatic moments in Toronto’s labour history.