Set in summer, 1933, in the depths of the Depression, Arthur Miller's most personal and intimate play focuses on the workers in a warehouse, a grim place in which men and women work for small wages and are grateful for the work. Appearing at the beginning of this production to set the scene, Miller observes that the Civil War and the Depression were the only times in American history in which the whole country was in the same boat-"You could not do a single thing that you wanted to do because no one had any money." The warehouse, he notes, became a grotesque sort of haven for the employees since they, at least, had jobs. Miller's own experience in a warehouse shows in his exceptionally realistic portrayal of the workers, men who often lose themselves in alcohol to escape reality, and women who must put up with sexual abuse and mistreatment to save their jobs.