A musical event one hundred years in the making, SUFFS brings to life a complicated chapter in the ongoing battle for the right to vote: the American women's suffrage movement. Written by and featuring one of the most exciting new voices in theater, Shaina Taub, this epic new musical takes an unflinching look at these unsung trailblazers. In the seven years leading up to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, an impassioned group of suffragists-"Suffs" as they called themselves-took to the streets, pioneering protest tactics that transformed the country. They risked their lives as they clashed with the president, the public, and each other. A thrilling story of brilliant, flawed women working against and across generational, racial, and class divides, SUFFS boldly explores the victories and failures of a fight for equality that is still far from over.
And as we enter our nation’s 250th anniversary year, in its very birthplace, Suffs’ themes of equality and civic engagement feel especially relevant. Yes, the 19th Amendment passed, but we don’t exactly have equality over a century later. So, it’s the finale song that sticks in my head, a song that reminds us, “The world can be changed; we’ve done it before,” as long as we “keep marching.”
Rather than preach, SUFFS lets its politics emerge through personality. Its cheeky, pointed opening number, Let Mother Vote, is led with sly precision by genteel suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt (Marya Grandy). And when a more youthful Alice Paul (Maya Keleher) enters as a storm in petticoats, conflict follows. It’s old-guard respectability meets next-wave radicalism, and the two immediately clash.
| 2022 | Off-Broadway |
Public Theater World Premiere Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| 2024 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2025 | US Tour |
US Tour |
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