East Lynne Theater Company presents a reading of “Something to Vote For” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman for free, due to support from ?The New Jersey Council for the Humanities through its “NJ Women Vote: ?The 19th Amendment at 100” initiative, and The New Jersey Theatre Alliance’s “Stages Festival.”???
Gilman (1860 – 1935) known mainly for her novel “The Yellow Wallpaper,” published this fifty-minute one-act in her monthly magazine, “The Forerunner,” in 1911. Such plays were an important part of the suffrage movement since they could be read aloud and/or staged in private homes, bringing this controversial topic into living rooms. Many of the British suffrage plays survived - most of the American ones did not. This both witty and profound play takes place in the home of the president of an influential anti-suffrage women’s club. When the group is concerned about the purity of milk, a local milk manufacturer, the new milk inspector, a woman who has recently lost a child, and a woman doctor are invited to speak to the club. The doctor puts the need for women to vote at the center of the conversation if these women really want change for the better.
“Something to Vote For” premieres on Thursday, March 18 at 8:00 PM on ELTC's YouTube Channel
https://www.tinyurl.com/ELTCYouTube and
?is available through Sunday, March 21 at 11:30 PM. It can be viewed directly on a flat screen tv, but if viewing it on a computer, ELTC recommends connecting the computer to the tv with an HDMI cable so the play is seen ?on a larger screen with better sound. Closed Caption is available on YouTube.
The talented cast is currently located in South Jersey, Manhattan, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Several have worked with ELTC before. Pat Dwyer (“Silent Sky”), Rachel Holt (“Dracula” and “Ah, Wilderness!”), Jared Mason Murray (“Summerland”), Marcia Sofley (“Huckleberry Finn”) and Susan Tischler (“Helpful Hints” and others). Two were supposed to have made their ELTC premieres in 2020. Amanda Brinlee was to be in “Born Yesterday,” and Ann Flanigan was slated to play Harriet in the NJ premiere of “Possessing Harriet.” New to ELTC is Sandra Nickel who has worked with several acting companies in South Jersey. The director is Gayle Stahlhuth, artistic director of ELTC since 1999.
For more information about the show, visit
https://www.eastlynnetheater.org/something-to-vote-for.html. To learn more about the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, visit
https://njhumanities.org/. For more about The New Jersey Theatre Alliance (NJTA), visit
https://newjerseytheatrealliance.org, and it’s
“Stages Festival,”
https://njtheatrealliance.org/stages-festival.
Founded in 1981, NJTA is the first statewide organization for professional, not-for-profit theater companies in the United States, of which ELTC is a proud member. NJTA is a leader in developing model programs that foster collaboration, cooperation and audience development. The "Stages Festival,” running from March through May, was created in 1997 to encourage people to attend New Jersey’s professional theaters by making the experience affordable, accessible, and fun, and has reached over 220,000 audience members. Funding for the festival is provided by Bank of America, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, PSEG Foundation, OceanFirst Foundation, The New Jersey Historical Commission, George A. Ohl, Jr. Trust, and NJ State Council on the Arts.