Theater For The New City Will Offer HER TENNESSEE WALTZ By Toby Armour As A Radio Play

"Her Tennessee Waltz," a radio play by Toby Armour, will be presented by Theater for the New City for Women's History Month. The play follows Carrie Chapman Catt as she leads the final effort to ratify the 19th Amendment.

Armour's play dramatizes Carrie Chapman Catt's leadership of the final effort to secure women's right to vote through ratification of the 19th Amendment. Catt's mentor, Susan B. Anthony, had spent a lifetime fighting for women's suffrage. Dying in 1906, Anthony never saw the end of the struggle, but she never doubted. "Failure is impossible" were her words. The play is set in 1920, when the battle continued under Catt. The 19th Amendment, giving women suffrage, is coming to a vote in a special session of the Tennessee legislature. If Tennessee, the 36th state, ratifies it, the Amendment will finally become the law of the land after 87 years of struggle.

Campaigning takes place during the sweltering days of August in Nashville. The opposition, led by a coalition of Southern belles and corporate lobbyists, is powerful. Double dealing, threats, bribery, slander are all part of the action. Carrie Chapman Catt is fighting the battle of her life. It all comes down to one roll call vote in the Tennessee legislature. The suspense is hair-raising as the play shows us--up close and historically--how near the country came to never allowing women to vote.

The actors are Jenne Vath as Carrie Chapman Catt, Susan Patrick as Harriet Upton (the suffragist leader and friend of Carrie), and the ensemble of Richarda Abrams, Karen Sunde, Gregory Marlow, John Barilla and Daniel Wilkes Kelly. Stage Manager is Karen Oughtred. Incidental Music is by Peter Dizozza.

The performance, directed by George Ferencz, will be live at 3:00 PM March 28 and a recorded version will subsequently be available on-demand through April 11. To tune in, visit the theater's website, www.theatreforthenewcity.net, or its Facebook page. Admission is free but donations will be gratefully accepted.

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