Photo Flash: THE AGITATORS Comes To Theatre Horizon

Theatre Horizon, a professional theatre company located in Norristown, Pennsylvania, will bring two legendary activists to life in 2020. Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass arrive in THE AGITATORS, a riveting new play by Mat Smart about two rebels who became American icons. Youthful hopes and dreams united Anthony and Douglass in their fight to end slavery, but over time, their disagreements about how to gain voting rights tested their alliance. The production, directed by Cheyenne Barboza, plays now through March 22, 2020.

THE AGITATORS tells of the enduring but tempestuous friendship of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. Great allies? Yes. And at times, great adversaries. Young abolitionists when they met in Rochester in the 1840s, they were full of hopes, dreams, and a common purpose. As they grew to become the cultural icons we know today, their movements collided and their friendship was severely tested. This is the story of that forty-five-year friendship - from its beginning in Rochester, through a civil war, and to the highest halls of government. They agitated the nation, they agitated each other, and, in doing so, they helped shape the Constitution and the course of American history.

The Theatre Horizon production will feature Charlotte Northeast as Susan and Steve Wright as Douglass. Additionally, Theatre Horizon is proud to partner with Women 100 for our production of THE AGITATORS. Vision 2020 is a national women's equality initiative headquartered at Drexel University's Institute for Women's Health and Leadership. In the year 2020, Vision 2020 will lead Women 100: A National Celebration of American Women to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: women's right to vote. Throughout the year, Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, will be home to Vision 2020's Women 100 programs and events.

Additionally, Theatre Horizon will be launching a special effort to help meet the community's urgent, once-in-a-decade need to be fully counted in the upcoming Census. The project involves the neighborhood's students, neighbors, and audience members. The theatre will be launching a number of community projects, including a student-driven Census advocate program, special print and online marketing materials to reach 2,500 local residents, and in conjunction with the NAACP, a live mini-performance of THE AGITATORS at Lynnewood Gardens, a 5,000-resident complex which is home to a majority of black, Latinx, and undocumented peoples living at or below the poverty line. The complex had a less than 70% self-response rate in the 2010 census.

Single tickets for THE AGITATORS will be available for purchase online at theatrehorizon.org starting January 17.

Photo Credit: Daniel Kontz.

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