Florida Studio Theater has launched a joint effort with over 55 Sarasota-Manatee County community organizations to commemorate the United States’s constitutional granting to women of the right to vote. In a December 2nd, 2019, meeting in FST’s Keating Theatre, originally the downtown 1915 Women’s Club of Sarasota, Project Director Kate Alexander unveiled a full event calendar leading to August 2020’s 100th anniversary. Suffragist Project Chair Judge Charles E. Williams introduced the Project Forums. He pointed out that even black men received voting rights before women. That itself put black women last in line to benefit from suffragism. Happily, he concluded, “The Suffragist Project” will point these things out and highlight amends taken and to be taken. This led into recognition of local sponsors. Margaret Good, candidate for U. S. Representative, was also recognized for her work on passing the ERA in Florida. It needs only one more state’s vote to do so. With organizations creating their own specific artistic, educational, and cultural programming, FST has led with a production meeting last April and the start of confirming project partners. Alexander charged all attending “to not only celebrate our forbearers’ achievements but…to pause and reflect on the work yet to be done.” As FST’s Associate Director At-Large, who began its Education program, was FST’s leading resident actress, and still directs several times annually, Alexander continues to champion collaboration and cross-pollination of talents across the community in shared ventures. Now it is hoped there will be creation of “lasting community bonds in the long march of equality for humanity.” Actors participating in the Project are: Ariel Blue, Kim Crow, Susan Greenhill, Carolyn Michel, Rachel Moulton, J. Paul Nicholas, Zoe Speas, Katherine Michelle Tanner, and Alicia Taylor Tomasko. Carolyn Michel gave a spirited speech at the end of the Project launch. Featured partners mentioned in the launch program include Sarasota Orchestra, Sarasota County Schools, Sarasota County Libraries and Historical Resources, Florida Association for Women Lawyers, The Ringling, Sarasota County Bar Association, and Sarasota Arts & Cultural Alliance. Sarasota and Venice Chapters of the American Association of University Women, the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, the League of Women Voters, Manatee Village Historical Park, New College, Women’s Legal Association, and the Sarasota Retired Lawyers Association are also among the earliest subscribers to the Project. Of the many presentations and Project events mentioned in the launch, the following seem typical: Sarasota Music Festival will premiere “Voices Unbound; Celebrating Three Centuries of Women in Music” and welcome several women composers. Sarasota Contemporary Dance Company will create and perform choreography demonstrating a collective female body’s strength. Sarasota County Libraries has selected as its book read by the entire community, "The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women." Next March will see a “Through Women’s Eyes International Film Festival” sponsored by UN Women USA’s Gulf Coast Chapter. Pine View School for the Gifted will stage a “HERStory” of the Suffrage Centennial along with an election “in which everyone can vote!” Venice Historical Society will host actress Kathryn Chelsey acting as suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt. Florida Maritime Museum will present a lecture on “The Florida Women Behind the Everglades.” The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee will present a food-filled celebration at Michael’s on East Restaurant. Journalist Mary Walton will give a lecture for Friends of the East Manatee Library and autograph copies of her book on Alice Paul’s leadership in a crusade for the ballot for women. April will have the Republican Women’s Club of Sarasota “Delve into Suffragist History” complete with a trivia contest on the subject. Dancing in the Movement will improvise dance works honoring the women’s celebration. Historic Spanish Point will honor “20th Century Women Who Shaped Arts & Culture” like Bertha Palmer. At FST, former Opinion Editor of the "Sarasota Herald-Tribune" Tom Tryon will conduct a panel on “The Changing Face of Men” as allies of women. The Ringling Museum’s Christopher Jones, Curator of Photography and Media Art, will conduct a “Gallery Walk and Talk” exhibiting images of women by women artists. In May, Florida Studio Theatre will present its special “Suffragist Project of Commissioned Playwrights in Residence. FST has commissioned the writing of four plays on specific topics of suffragism, and the playwrights will attend readings of their plays before a selective audience. Open discussions will follow each reading. It is hoped that one of the plays will be chosen for a full production at FST later to celebrate the anniversary. The playwrights are: Rachel Lynett, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Sandy Rustin, and Mark St. Germain. Art Center Manatee in May will hold both a month exhibit and, on May 16, an exclusive speech by Jane Pitt, Executive Director of the National Organization of Women. In June, Sarasota Orchestra will present “Voices Unbound: Three Centuries of Women in Music.” In July, the Choral Artists of Sarasota County, will perform on the 4th a tribute to history’s patriotic women, especially through songs of suffragist leaders. Art Center Sarasota will hold a special exhibit opening on July 16 celebrating women’s rights. On July 28, the Artist Concert Series of Sarasota will feature “Famous Women Composers of History - That You’ve Never Heard Of.” Every journalistic print and broadcast outlet in the area will be involved throughout the Project. Sarasota Magazine will host a “Woman of Influence” event and prepare the program booklet. FST will extend its “Historically Speaking” in-school residency program, that inspires local students to write a play, to area schools. The plays will be about women’s suffrage and the fight for equal rights. From August 14 to 16, FST, supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts will present a “Dangerous Ladies Festival” of the new play readings across FST’s Campus. Project director Kate Alexander and assistant director Meg Gilbert are coordinating this festival and will release more information later. On August 18, Baila Miller will present a comprehensive look into the life and works of Frida Kahlo at Historic Spanish Point. August 20,2020, The 100th Anniversary Commemoration Closing Celebration of the Suffragist Project will take place in FST’s Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First Street, Sarasota. The Mayor of the city will preside. Authors Kate Alexander and Meg Gilbert, collaborating with the top actors involved, will present Dangerous Ladies celebrating the greatest suffragists and their speeches. For further learning about Women’s Suffrage and to help support the Project, one can order books from the Suffragist Book Fair site powered by Bookstore1 Sarasota. The site may be found at Suffragist | Bookstore1 Sarasota. [END]
