I'm not seeing anything wrong, but a group should not be necessary. Verify that the text can be seen ever: in the init(), do
local optionsText = {
text = "Hello World",
x = 0,
y = 100,
}
local workText = display.newText( optionsText )
workText:setFillColor( 1, 1, 1 )
If you can't see the text then something else is going on, maybe your init() is not being called or such. Once you see it, change the parameters to what you want (fill color etc), and test. If still works, add a transition, right after, in the init():
local easeXto100 = {
time = 2000,
transition = easing.outExpo,
x = 100,
onComplete = function() print('did you see text move from x=0 to 100?') end
}
transition.to(workText, easeXto100)
If you see it move, then move the relevant parts of code to your show(), if now it disappears this will give you clue.