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This streamed performance, followed by a live commentary and Q & A, features the lives of two very different Washington State women who built upon our state's legacy and fought gallantly for the right of the first women to vote in the United States.
Prim and proper Emma Smith DeVoe and outrageous, flamboyant May Arkwright Hutton worked side by side - but seldom eye to eye - to win the vote for women in Washington State. DeVoe, based in western Washington, was a professional suffrage organizer mentored by Susan B. Anthony. She believed that to win the vote, it was imperative to approach men in a ladylike manner: "You have to persuade them, convince them, argue their resistance down." Hutton, rags-to-riches Spokane millionaire and ex-mining camp cook, could not have disagreed more: "No, you gotta charm the pants off 'em. You don't focus on the issue; you distract 'em from it!" May's Vote presents Emma and May from their respective childhoods through the noisy public struggle that ended with success in 1910 and demonstrates that we do not always have to agree to achieve a common goal.
May’s Vote, a play written by Toni Douglass, is produced by Key City Public Theatre in Port Townsend, under a grant from the Votes for Women Centennial Grant Program. It is performed by Denise Winter, who plays Emma, and Barbara Callander, who portrays May. Both women are professional actors with a long list of successful performances to their credit. May's Vote is funded in part by the Washington State Women’s Commission and the Washington State Historical Society through the Votes for Women Centennial Grant Program.
This program is brought to you in collaboration with the Port Townsend Public Library. Key City Public Theatre is managing the technical elements for this virtual performance.
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