“Mother Jones is a fascinating subject for a musical.”

I overheard a woman saying that in the lobby of Main Stage West last Friday night. The woman made the remark as we all waited for the doors to open for the opening night performance of Si Kahn’s "Mother Jones in Heaven."

Her companion nodded, knowingly, and then added, “Well . . . Mother Jones certainly reads well.”

She was making a joke, of course, a reference to Mother Jones Magazine, perhaps suggesting that if people know Mother Jones at all, most will know her name from the magazine that bears it. Founded in 1976, the famously left-leaning publication chose Mother Jones - the familiar name of Irish-American union activist Mary Harris Jones - for her lifetime of commitment to workers rights in the factories and mines of America

Those causes, and more, are purposefully touched upon in this entertainingly rousing new play by Kahn, himself a songwriter whose prolific energies have taken him from picket lines to concert halls and, frequently, to the theatrical stage. "Mother Jones in Heaven" is one of several musical plays Kahn has written, many of them highlighting the lives and voices of prominent historical figures who stood up with the country’s workers and picket-line strikers, and with the wives and children who sometimes stood between the strikers and the batons of and bullets of industry.

In "Mother Jones in Heaven," Kahn has created the perfect vehicle for Mary Gannon Graham. One of Sonoma County’s best-acclaimed singers and actors, Graham has won kudos for her performances as the real-life Patsy Cline and the fictional Shirley Valentine, and here she blends the real and the imagined, creating yet another indelible character for which she will be long remembered.

As the play begins, in a heavenly whiskey bar somewhere in the clouds of paradise, Mother Jones expresses surprise at having ended up in Heaven, initially worried that she'll miss all of her Union-activist friends - who’d spent their lives being told they were headed straight for hell. Not only is she not alone, she’s got a bar to hang out in, whisky and beer to swig when she wants it, and a full-on Irish folk band (led by Jim Peterson) to back her up whenever she feels like bursting into song.

Some of Kahn’s other union plays have showcased historical protest songs and marching tunes, but for "Mother Jones in Heaven," he’s written a dozen or so original songs, underscoring Mother Jones’ emotional life with words and music that range from the playful and sweet to the heartbroken and angry.

The story unfolds as loosely connected stories from Jones’ life, primarily focusing on her work with the unions, but occasionally aimed at unpacking her emotional life. Especially powerful is her story of losing her husband and four children to the yellow fever, an overwhelming source of grief that fueled Mary Jones’ passion for sticking up for the poor and underserved.

Directed by Beth Craven with a mix of strategic whimsy, sensitivity, and drama, ‘Mother Jones in Heaven’ has little plot, but plenty of power, and before it’s over, audiences might find themselves longing to enter the Great Beyond themselves, just so they could seek out this one-of-a-kind woman, and maybe share a whiskey or two with Mother Jones in Heaven.

The show has been extended, running through the 18th of May, at main Stage West - mainstagewest.com.