THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Crystal Field, Executive Director, Presents:
HER TENNESSEE WALTZ
Sunday, March 28 @ 3PM EST
a new radio play by Toby Armour
directed by George Ferencz
Armour’s play dramatizes Carrie Chapman Catt’s leadership of the final effort to secure women’s right to vote through ratification of the 19th Amendment. Catt’s mentor, Susan B. Anthony, had spent a lifetime fighting for women’s suffrage. Dying in 1906, Anthony never saw the end of the struggle, but she never doubted. “Failure is impossible” were her words. The play is set in 1920 when the battle continued under Catt. The 19th Amendment, giving women suffrage, is coming to a vote in a special session of the Tennessee legislature. If Tennessee, the 36th state, ratifies it, the Amendment will finally become the law of the land after 87 years of struggle.
Campaigning takes place during the sweltering days of August in Nashville. The opposition, led by a coalition of Southern belles and corporate lobbyists, is powerful. Double-dealing, threats, bribery, slander are all part of the action. Carrie Chapman Catt is fighting the battle of her life. It all comes down to one roll call vote in the Tennessee legislature. The suspense is hair-raising as the play shows us–up close and historically–how near the country came to never allowing women to vote.
CAST
Richarda Abrams*
John Barilla*
Gregory Marlow
Susan Patrick*
Karen Sunde*
Jenne Vath*
and the Announcer is Dan Kelley
* Actors appear courtesy of Actors’ Equity
Incidental music is written and performed by Peter Dizozza
assistant director, Karen Oughtred