Past Performances

Mill Girls

Northwestern University's Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science is proud to present an ETOPiA production.

Book by: Samantha Beach
Music and lyrics by: Diana Lawrence
Conceived and directed by: Jess McLeod
Featuring: Northwestern alumni writer, director, and performers

Made possible by: The Barry and Mary Ann MacLean Fund for Art and Engineering, Northwestern’s Materials Research Center, and Northwestern Engineering.

Synopsis

Mill Girls, a new musical examining women’s roles in the US Industrial Revolution, will run as a staged reading workshop. During the first weekend, actors will read from the scripts and sing to perform a working version of the musical. Using audience feedback, the writers will rework certain scenes and present a revised version during the second weekend.

Written by Northwestern University alumna Samantha Beach, Mill Girls is the story of a group of young women in the 1840s who leave home to work in a Lowell, Massachusetts textile mill. As industrialism mounts, the women spur a workers’ and women’s rights movement.