Whose votes will count? 2020 is the centennial anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, which established voting rights for women. To investigate why voting matters, StoryBuilding presents 2020 - the New 1920 (Why Vote? Just Ask History!), a new work written, performed and facilitated by Randi Douglas. Audience members will have unique opportunities to participate in a well-developed British system called "process drama," in which the audience and performer create an imaginary dramatic world that explores events and issues from different perspectives.
In approximately one hour, the workshop explores the historical entanglement of the movements for women's suffrage, the abolition of slavery, and the prohibition of alcohol, highlighting the perspectives of men and women activists (and those opposed) and key dramatic events during this 72-year political campaign for human rights. The conflict between Oregon's
Abigail Scott Dunaway and the eastern icon Susan B. Anthony brings to life the intersection of these swirling currents in U.S. history.
To begin the story, the Mayor schedules a fifty minute lecture by a renowned woman suffrage scholar (the performer) and requires council members, staff, interns and committee chairs to attend (roles for the audience). The scholar arrives with photos, costumes, and props and delivers brief dramatizations from the lives of key activists - but she also pauses to ask questions, request assistance, and facilitate an audience-generated, improvisational, emerging story.
"What excites me is opening doors to the audience, providing small opportunities (never any pressure) to participate in history and translate its modern significance both individually and as part of a community," says Douglas. "Each audience creates its own unique story."
Randi Douglas, an Equity actress/playwright, pioneered early efforts to professionalize theater in Oregon, performing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and serving as founding artistic director at the Oregon Repertory Theater. She wrote Count on Me about Michigan woman suffrage, and designed national award-winning StoryBuilding episodes for the Detroit Historical Museums on topics including The Underground Railroad, Anishnabe - Original People, and Skywalkers - Indian Ironworkers. Participant comments: "It made everyone's mind open and we stopped thinking about the differences between us," "we were thinking and having fun at the same time," "inspiring and motivating!"
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