Event
Suffrage in Black and White: A Conversation with the Playwrights
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Suffrage in Black and White: A Conversation with the Playwrights
Boston played a critical role in the struggle for women's suffrage, though its role is often overshadowed by events and organizations in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington. The movement for women’s right to vote and equal rights was rooted in the abolitionist movement, which was fueled by New England activists and writers.
The National Park Service and Revolutionary Spaces are working with Plays in Place in a multi-phase project to create three original site-specific plays on the intersections of race and women's suffrage, as it played out in the landscape of Boston over nearly a century of public meetings and protest. These plays will bring to life characters and moments often overlooked or underappreciated, in spaces both familiar and unfamiliar.
Phase 1 of the project has engaged three playwrights, Miranda ADEkoje, Ginger Lazarus, and Patrick Gabridge to research and lay the groundwork for the writing and creation of these new plays. Topics and sites include:
- Angelina Grimke’s groundbreaking and controversial address on abolition and women's rights at the Massachusetts State House (1838).
- The first sparks of the Black clubwomen's movement at Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin's Beacon Hill home during the First National Conference of Colored Women in America (1895).
- Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association rally in Faneuil Hall after the crushing defeat of the Massachusetts referendum on women's right to vote (1915).
Join us on May 12th at 7pm, as the three writers present the results of their research and discuss the characters and stories they plan to develop into these new plays. We value your participation and input as we work to create exciting new theatrical events that enliven these important moments in history and speak to our present time.
Playwrights:
Miranda Austen ADEkoje is a writer for stage and screen, producer and actress. She attended Brown University where she graduated with a B.A. in literature and cultures in English, after which she trained in London at the Rose Bruford college for Drama and received a Master's degree with Distinction in Theatre Practices. Her plays include The Come Up (BTM 2021), In any Face (Lyric Stage Walking Plays), Keyp-ing (New Rep Showstopper Series), Virtual Attendance (Huntington Theatre Dream Boston Audio play series) I Am This Place (Revolutionary Spaces), Shelter of Last Resort (Front Porch Arts Collective Summer reading series, The Huntington Theatre Breaking Ground Reading Series, Company One XX PlayLab), 36 Days (Apollinaire Theatre New Play Night reading, Bob Jolly Fellowship Reading Series, Emerson College Student Workshop), The Strongest Shape (Paines Plough Future Perfect Finalist), Reply Please, Requests and Sugar Moth. Mrs. ADEkoje's screen work includes Little Eyes (48-hour film festival semi-finalist), The Last Shot, Red Monster, and she was a member of the writing team for the webseries ByChance, and The Halls seasons 1 and 2.
Mrs. Adekoje has performed at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and Theatre Royal Stratford as well as being named the Farrago Central London Slam Poet champion. Stateside, Mrs. ADEkoje was a Playwright Fellow at the Tony award-winning Huntington Theatre and is currently a member of the MUTT play writing collective. Mrs. Adekoje is an award-winning actress whose credits include Shelia in Lost Tempo (Boston Playwright’s Theatre), Mrs. Mueller in Doubt (Stoneham Theatre) Valerie in the world premier of Lydia Diamond's Smart People for which she won an IRNE or best supporting actress in a large production (The Huntington Theatre), Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and Silvia in Two Gentlemen of Verona (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), Shylock in Merchant of Venus Zero Point Theater), Susan in Race (New Repertory Theatre), and Oya/Shaunta Iyun in The Brother/Sister Plays (IRNE Award for Best Ensemble) and Selector in How We Got On (Elliot Norton Award nomination for Best Ensemble) at Company One. In addition to playwriting, Mrs. ADEkoje is currently a writer, director and producer for the Boston-based Production company, Beyond MEASURE Productions.
Patrick Gabridge is an award-winning writer and theatre-maker with a special talent for creating site-specific plays. He’s created plays in partnership with many museums and historic sites, including Mount Auburn Cemetery, Boston’s Old State House (Blood on the Snow and Cato & Dolly), Old South Meeting House, the Roosevelt Cottage on Campobello Island, and the MIT Museum. Patrick loves the challenge of matching story and space, all in service of creating engaging experiences for audiences. Though he has a special interest in history, the topics of his work range from quantum entanglement to spotted salamanders to the Boston Massacre. In addition to creating plays, he’s also a screenwriter, novelist, and a writer of audio plays (most recently with the Huntington Theatre Company and Lyric Stage of Boston).
Ginger Lazarus is a Boston-based playwright, screenwriter, and teacher. Her most recent work includes commissions for Lyric Stage Company, Central Square Theater, and In Good Company. Her play Burning was produced by Resonance Ensemble in New York and received the 2013 Boston My Theatre Award for Best New Play. Other productions include The Housekeeper, The Embryos (Fresh Ink Theatre), and Matter Familias (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 2004 IRNE nomination for Best New Play). Screenwriting credits include Mary, a film based on her stageplay, and creative consultant for the critically acclaimed Leave No Trace. Ginger holds an MA in playwriting from Boston University and teaches at University of Massachusetts Boston. She is a member of the Dramatist Guild and StageSource.
The National Parks of Boston is a collection of three National Park Service sites – Boston African American National Historic Site, Boston National Historical Park and Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park. Established by individual legislation and for designated purposes, the three units have come together under a unified organizational umbrella to collaborate in ways that celebrate and commemorate our cultural heritage, reconnect people to history and nature, and provide outdoor recreation opportunities on land and on the water.
Revolutionary Spaces brings people together to explore the American struggle to create and sustain a free society, singularly evoked by Boston’s Old South Meeting House and Old State House. We steward these buildings as gathering spaces for the open exchange of ideas and the continuing practice of democracy, inspiring all who believe in the power of people to govern themselves.
Plays in Place is a theatre company that specializes in creating new site-specific work in partnership with museums and historic sites. Past projects have included Blood on the Snow and Cato & Dolly at the Old State House, and The Mount Auburn Plays at Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Image Gallery
NPS Photo
Revolutionary Spaces
Plays in Place
Miranda ADEkoje
Patrick Gabridge
Ginger Lazarus