A quick story of where each of my characters is at his or her appearance in the show:
Graziella Paula DiCampagna came July 7, 1906 with her daughter Isabella and brother-in-law Giacomo to meet her husband Giovanni that she hadn’t seen for three years. A small piece of paper in her tattered shawl has been worn by the incessant rubbing of her fingers, ensuring she hadn’t lost the vital information it carried: the address of Giovanni’s butcher shop. She got a bad, wet cough on the ship but tries for her seven-year-old daughter’s sake not to let it show. She is very confused by the overt sexuality of the prostitutes and Evelyn Nesbit, and is alarmed by the violence, but her excitement to see her husband overcomes that fear. The only problem is that she noticed some coldsores on Isabella and on herself, and is worried that Giovanni has some explaining to do about his activity back in Italy seven years ago.
Brigitte Lawrence worked for four years as a dancer when Evelyn Nesbit stole the swing part from her. She pushes Evelyn’s swing a little too hard, and her cheeks have gotten tired of smiling as much as they need to. She sprained her knee just before the show, but must work through it.
Eli Rogers was a trolley conductor with a penchant for talking to women who are alone, ever since his wife left him because of his drinking problem. He left the trolley company because his boss caught him taking a swig of whiskey, but was not fired because he threatened to tell the boss’ wife about his extra-marital affair with the African-American maid. Rogers then got a job as a train conductor because his father went to college with the railroad director. His wife came back to him after he turned sober, and through her work with orphans, convinced him to use the train part time as an escape measure for the child laborers in Lawrence.
George Phillips worked as a clerk in the New York City Hall for 17 years and is an ardent racist. The end.
Lucille Reginald and her daughter Ella live on West 33rd Street. She tries very hard to fit in and follow the trends, forgetting to wear the right hat or scarf when it’s necessary and beating herself up over it. Her family emigrated when she was twelve so her English is almost perfect but when she’s angry she speaks French. She went to school with her neighbors who are much wealthier than she and though both she and they know this, it is not spoken about.