Oregon – Performers and Authors

Spend some time with some extraordinary women! Together, Barbara Callander and Toni Douglass have been touring original plays about women’s history for almost 20 years. Programs include:

Scott Free – Abigail Scott Duniway, who fought for women’s rights and the vote in Oregon and throughout the Northwest for over 40 years. (Both adult and children’s versions available.)

May’s Vote – Prim Emma Smith DeVoe and outrageous May Arkwright Hutton, who worked side by side – but seldom eye to eye – to win the vote for women in Washington State in 1910.

Winners – A portrait gallery of women’s rights trailblazers, “extremists” who helped to make today possible, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Mary Walker, and Febb Burn, the mother of the Tennessee legislator who cast the deciding vote in the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

I Cannot Think: An Anti-Suffrage Monologue – Satirical suffrage propaganda piece, written by pro-suffragist Marie Jenney Howe in 1913. Mrs. W. Winslow Crannell shares her views on “the woman question” and the terrible disasters that will befall the country if women become voters. She’s serious . . . and hilarious.

Daisy with Asters – Juliette Low, the late-blooming eccentric who founded the Girl Scouts, opening doors for millions of girls in her time and beyond.

“I learned more history tonight than I learned in years of history classes.” – audience member at a performance of Scott Free

“It should be seen by every woman of every age.” – Donna Nylander, League of Women Voters

“An inspired script and two equally inspired and inspiring actors . . . a stellar production.” – Victoria Kill, Wismer Women’s Center, Seattle University

All performances include post-play discussion. Other characters and custom-designed programs also available. Nationwide touring possible.   Availability: WA, OR, MD

Not all suffragists were Free Lovers by any means; but several prominent Free Love advocates like Victoria Woodhull were strong supporters of women’s rights, so the reputation stuck. This enjoyable talk about the 19th century battle between Free Love and prudery reveals a fascinating side of American society, which affected the struggle for women’s right to vote. The talk is rated PG-13.

Audience Feedback:

 "This unknown suffragist history was enlightening and entertaining. Numerous members' feedback was very positive. One long-standing member said this was the best lecture we've ever had!"- Joan Gill, Chair of Speaker Programs, Canadian Women's Club of San Francisco

"Joe Miller was recently invited by the Sonoma Valley Historical Society and presented his research on the history of the suffragists to a very receptive audience. His presentation was most informative as well as entertaining. He engaged the audience by showing how much of this subject has been completely forgotten or misunderstood."- Peter G. Meyerhof, Historian

Joe C. Miller published an article in The History Teacher, titled “Never a Fight of Woman Against Man: What Textbooks Don’t Say about Women’s Suffrage” (2015). There he argued that college textbooks include many errors and myths about women’s history.

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT: Living Little Women Alcott (1832-1888) was first the daughter of a self-educated, devoted mother and then an author, whose best-selling book, Little Women, ended a life of dire poverty for her family and herself. Growing up in the heart of the Transcendental community, she knew Henry Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson as friends and neighbors, but Louisa May Alcott really wanted to be an actress, not an author. “A gem…informative, entertaining, delightful, and moving.”—Rebecca Carey, Vocal Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival

MARGARET SANGER: Radiant Rebel 1940 At a press conference in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Margaret Sanger relates her experience as a pioneer of legal contraception, her second marriage, her encounters with local officials and with international figures such as Gandhi. ” A gripping portrayal.” – Wilkes University, Wilkes Barre, PA 

MARGARET SANGER: Radiant Rebel 1916 Sanger (1879-1966), in an after-dinner speech, recounts growing up in a large and poor family and seeing her mother die young after a lifetime of consumption and seventeen pregnancies. As a nurse on the Lower East Side, Sanger cared for women who endured illegal abortions that were too often fatal. At a time when doctors were jailed for giving advice on contraception, Sanger recalls the daring steps she took to change the law, to make contraceptives legal and freely available to women. A huge success…Your show opened their eyes…to Sanger’s contribution to the Woman’s Movement. —College of Charleston, SC

MARGARET SANGER: HER LIFE IN HER WORDS ( Barricade Books 2004) “I want…to express my appreciation for such an important, inspiring, and detailed account of this remarkable woman. Thank you. Your work reminds me of the importance of knowing our history. The topic could not be more important than it is today.” Molly Murphy MacGregor, Executive Director, National Woman’s History Project The book deftly showcases Sanger’s grit and determination. Publishers Weekly

HURRAH FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE! Forty-minute Music CD, History Booklet with Song Lyrics, & Work Study Questions  $15.00 A GREAT learning tool for my U.S. History Class. —Barbara J. Rozek

MIRIAM REED proudly earned her doctorate in Comparative Literature (UCLA 1980) and discovered how little she knew. Specifically, she had no idea who Elizabeth Cady Stanton was. Galvanized by her own ignorance, Miriam determined to save other women from such ignominy and launched her one-woman performances to educate and entertain, calling her solo plays “Women’s History 101“ With her savings, she wrote Margaret Sanger: Her Life in Her Words (Barricade Books, 2003) Miriam lives with her Border Collie, Marnie, in Ashland, Oregon.