{"id":61847,"date":"2021-10-26T11:17:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T15:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peabody.jhu.edu\/?page_id=61847&preview_id=61847"},"modified":"2025-02-28T15:09:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T20:09:40","slug":"awsse","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/peabody.jhu.edu\/life-at-peabody\/career-services\/student-alumni-stories\/creative-wire\/awsse\/","title":{"rendered":"Oct. 26, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/a>\n\n\n\n

Artistic Collaboration, Activism, and the Classical Singer:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Creation of “A Women\u2019s Suffrage Splendiferous Extravaganza!<\/em>” with The Pleiades Project<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oct. 26, 2021 | by Noelle McMurtry
Edited by Carolyn Dzul<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On November 5th<\/sup> and 6th<\/sup>, The Pleiades Project<\/a> presents staged readings of a new musical, A Women\u2019s Suffrage Splendiferous Extravaganza! <\/em>(AWSSE!<\/em>)<\/a>, at Alchemical Studios in New York City. For us and for our collaborators, it has been a considerable personal and creative journey to arrive at this moment; it feels like both a poignant end and an exhilarating beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Founded in 2015 by Caroline Miller<\/a> and Elizabeth Van Os,<\/a> The Pleiades Project is a NYC-based organization that produces new performance opportunities for female-identifying creatives to express the unique vision, strength, and individuality of their art. As interdisciplinary vocalists in the classical music realm, we are passionate about bringing our art form to wide and diverse audiences. To that end, The Pleiades Project produces short films and video series, collaborative concerts, and live theater experiences, all filtered through the lens of classical vocal repertoire. Inspired by the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades constellation, we are devoted to building a more vibrant and inclusive classical music community – by developing music-theater works and film projects that highlight the stories and creative contributions of women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the 2020-2021 season approached, we recalled the upcoming centennial celebration of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. While this landmark victory in 1920 led to the largest act of enfranchisement in U.S. history, it tragically did not include all American women. Voter suppression laws and legal acts that denied citizenship remained intact, fueled by racist and classist ideology. Through poll taxes, literacy tests, voter registration laws, and threats of violence, Black Americans were explicitly prohibited from exercising their right to vote. In 1924, Indigenous people were finally granted citizenship and suffrage, while Asian American immigrants were denied their citizenship and the vote until 1952. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a mission to approach the women\u2019s suffrage movement from an intersectional perspective, The Pleiades Project team decided to create and produce a new music-theater work, exploring the successes and failures of this milestone event in American history. After being awarded a generous Community Engagement Grant from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in April of 2020, A Women\u2019s Suffrage Splendiferous Extravaganza! <\/em>(AWSSE!<\/em>) was born. With the addition of November Christine<\/a> (Co-Creator, Writer, Lyricist, and Composer) to our creative team, we tackled the initial stages of developing new a music-theater work. How do we transform AWSSE!<\/em> from an enthusiastic idea into its upcoming realization as a live staged reading? We then proposed a simple, but crucial beginning that would anchor all of our subsequent work –what stories do we want to tell about women\u2019s suffrage, and how do we want to tell them? <\/em>After much discussion, we centered the narrative arc of AWSSE!<\/em> around three aspects of the women\u2019s suffrage movement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. The essential stories and contributions of BIPOC suffrage activists who were marginalized due to the racist ideology of white leaders in the movement <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The historical \u201ctextbook\u201d narrative we had been taught in school, and subsequently never questioned about the ratification journey of the 19th<\/sup> Amendment <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The enduring connection of the women\u2019s suffrage movement to our current struggle for racial justice, women\u2019s rights, and equal political representation in the United States  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Due to the breadth and diversity of the women\u2019s suffrage movement, we agreed that we could not simply tell one story about one individual. Instead, we needed to employ a narrative structure that was flexible enough to showcase multiple perspectives, most importantly from suffragists of color that have been continually erased from our collective historical memory. Ultimately, we decided that a musical revue, or better yet, a turn-of-the-20th<\/sup>-Century-inspired vaudeville revue, would be the most compelling option.<\/p>\n\n\n

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    To refine which historical figures would be starring in AWSSE!<\/em>, we researched and drafted a list of important activists. We made some difficult decisions, but guided by our three aims, we finalized a list of suffragists. We were shocked and humbled to realize how little we knew about so many of these remarkable women and their legacies, which included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n