Radical Women’s Voices from 1916: A Double Bill

Even as early as 1916, writers and artists escaped from cities like New York and Boston and summered in the small sleepy fishing village of Provincetown, Massachusetts. In 1915, a group of them interested in experimental theatre, led by Susan Glaspell, formed the Provincetown Players This avant-garde band of bohemians staged both Trifles by Susan Glaspell and Bound East for Cardiff by Eugene O’Neill in a make-shift theatre on the wharf during the summer of 1916.

Trifles by Susan Glaspell is set in early 20th Century America. A man is found in his bed, murdered. Suspicion centers on his wife. The play exposes the different perspectives of the men who are investigating the crime, and the women who attend the scene to select clothes and other necessaries for the accused wife held in jail. As the men belittle the women’s concern and work, the women unravel the mystery of what happened. And then the women face an ethical dilemma–the heart of the story–forcing them to judge the accused and decide whether to reveal what they have found to the men.

Year of the Woman by Kate Walbert portrays Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to serve in the United States Congress. She was elected to the House of Representatives from Montana’s Western District in 1916 before women even had the right to vote. Rankin fought for women’s suffrage; she had a life long special friendship with writer, Katharine Anthony who was also a suffragist and peace activist; was a close friend of Fiorello La Guardia; a protester of the Vietnam War and the only person in both the Senate and House of Representatives to vote against World War II. She was accused of being un-American for her stance but she believed that “you can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.” When she was told that she would lose the next election if she voted against war, she said that she could not face the idea of sending young men to be killed for no other reason than to save her seat in Congress.

Box Office Hours: 20 minutes before showtime

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Appropriate For Ages: 13 and above

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