Mother Jones portrayed by Karen Vuranch

Greenville Tech Barton Campus — Corner of S. Pleasantburg and E. Faris Road, 29607. FREE Outdoor Show — Bring lawn seating. Before the event visit HistoryComesAlive.org for the exact location on the Greenville Tech Barton Campus. Inclement weather plan (extreme heat or rain) — Show will be moved into the Dreisbach/Anderson Student Success Center Auditorium, 506 S. Pleasantburg Drive. You will need to come early to get a seat. First come, first served. Doors will open 45 minutes before show time. Mother Jones was a passionate, fiery orator, and an active force in the labor movement in the early part of the 20th century. 

An immigrant from Ireland, she took to heart the revolutionary spirit of America and campaigned for the rights of workers in many occupations. Specifically, she spent a great deal of time working with the newly formed United Mine Workers of America. Mother Jones is also known for her work with the textile workers in the South, railroaders and steel workers. She famously marched with children crippled in the textile mills of Philadelphia to bring attention to the plight of child labor. Her efforts took her all over the nation, from West Virginia to Colorado to South Carolina, where she had a tremendous impact on the organization of labor unions. 

Karen Vuranch, has been researching and performing the character of Mother Jones for more than 30 years. She has performed 14 characters, including Julia Child and Cass Elliot in Greenville, but Mother Jones was her first Chautauqua character. She began performing Mother Jones for the 1989 UMWA strike against Pittston Coal Company and was the warm-up speaker for Cesar Chavez. Through her company, WV Enterprises, Karen travels throughout the nation with her Chautauqua characters, murder mystery performances and storytelling. She has performed throughout the US and England and Wales with her one-woman play /Coal Camp Memories/ that she wrote from gathering oral history in West Virginia. She has also participated in a storytelling exchange in China. Karen taught theatre at Concord University in West Virginia from which she retired in 2022.