Suffragists from the Stage
Celebrate SWAN Day with a Concert Reading to Benefit our On Her Shoulders Program
A Concert Reading to Benefit our
ON HER SHOULDERS program
Friday, March 27, 2026, 7:00pm
created and directed by Melody Brooks
featuring
Sophia Aranda, Penelope Deen, Laura E. Johnston, Marie Eléna O’Brien
How did the Suffrage Movement get started?
Can you name the date of the first Women's Rights Convention and where it took place?
Who were some of the women that turned Suffrage into a National campaign?
Do you know more names than Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony?
How did African American women influence the debate?
Were African American women involved before the end of the Civil War?
What role did Theatre Women play in spreading the message?
How did they use their talents to create a "powerful propaganda machine"?
Learn the answers to these questions, and more!
Suffragists from the Stage is a 90-minute concert reading originally created in 2017 which has been performed in multiple locations in New York and New Jersey. It includes a full slide show of images that take us from the first organized movement through 1920 and the signing of the 19th Amendment, highlighting the contributions of theatre women in the struggle for the vote. This updated version grapples with the ongoing struggle for women's rights and the current assault on the very presence of women in the public sphere.
We are reviving this piece for SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now), which was created in 2008.
Learn about the history of SWAN Day here: