To commemorate the anniversary of the 19th amendment to the constitution, WYSO 91.3 FM and the Living History Theatre presents an original radio drama, "Dangerous Women." This original work by Yellow Springs playwright Kay Reimers, concerns the beginning and end of the nearly century long struggle to give women the right to vote.
The play begins in 1920, during a special election held by the Tennessee state legislature to ratify the 19th amendment. In the tense hours leading up to the vote, as Reimers tells the story, the spirit of the first suffragette, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, reflects on the events of her life and struggle, which led to the first formal demand for women's suffrage in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York. Giving women the right to vote was considered a threat to the established order and women were considered "dangerous" even to suggest it.
"Dangerous Women" commemorates the 90th anniversary of the amendment's passage, but in Tennessee, the amendment allowing women the right to vote nearly did not pass.
Producer and writer for Living History Theatre, Kay Reimers was looking to write a historical drama that would highlight the story of women. She almost skipped over the suffrage movement. "It seemed a dull subject filled with marches and meetings. Further research made me see the human side to these women who look so stiff and formal in the old photographs."
The mission of the Living History Theatre is to create dramas that take psychological and sociological approaches to history rather than a straight forward retelling of events. LHT uses artistic expression to illuminate modern experience by finding echoes of that experience in the past. The Living History Theatre brings Miami Valley artists together to create original dramas.
"Dangerous Women" was Directed by Dan Davis, and produced by Jerry Kenney of WYSO. Lead actors include Miriam Eckenrode as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Howard Shook as Henry Stanton, Doug Hinkley as Judge Cady and Marcia Nowak as Susan B Anthony. Other actors include Troy Lindsey, Jason Sine, Gary Reimers, Sarah Strong, Flo Lorenz, Elizabeth Lutz and Rob Campbell.
