Based on Studs Terkel's best-selling book of interviews with American workers, Working paints a vivid portrait of the workers that the world so often takes for granted: the schoolteacher, the phone operator, the waitress, the millworker, the mason and the housewife, just to name a few. Nominated for six Tony Awards, this classic has been updated for a modern age, featuring new songs by Tony Award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as favorites by Stephen Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, James Taylor, Micki Grant, and more.

This new 2012 version of Working is a musical exploration of 26 people from all walks of life. While most of the professions have been updated, the show's strengths are in the core truths that transcend specific professions; the key is how people's relationships to their work ultimately reveal essential aspects of their humanity, regardless of the trappings of the job itself. The show, still set in contemporary America, contains timeless truths. 

A six-year public secondary school of choice, the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School is open by lottery admissions to all residents of Massachusetts in grades seven through twelve.

Parker is a progressive school which emphasizes learning to use one's mind well and putting the student at the center of the educational process.  Students are known well at Parker.  School climate is built on trust, decency, and democracy.

One of Massachusetts' first charter schools, Parker was started in 1995 by area parents and teachers committed to the principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools.  Nationally recognized progressive educators Ted and Nancy Sizer were among Parker's founders and the school is part of their legacy; Ted and Nancy served as co-principals at Parker in 1998-1999.

The school was named after Francis W. Parker, the 19th-century New England educator who is known as the father of American progressive education. 

Parker enrolls 400 students from 40 towns in north central Massachusetts; the socioeconomic, ethnic, and educational characteristics of the student body closely reflect the general population of the region. Like all public schools, Parker serves students with a range of needs, abilities, and disabilities.