Moorestown Friends has a unique connection to the story behind Shaina Taub’s new musical, Suffs. The show tells the story of the seven years leading up to the passage of the 19th amendment. The group of suffragists, led by Alice Paul, dubbed themselves the “Suffs,” providing inspiration for the show’s title. Alice Paul is a member of the MFS graduating class of 1901, and went on to receive a variety of degrees from some of the nation’s most prestigious universities. Suffs will highlight the highs and lows of Paul’s journey to achieving gender equality in a developing American society. The Suffs took to the streets to fight for equal voting rights, and now performers will take the stage to tell their story at the Public Theater from March 13, 2022-May 15, 2022, beginning at the same venue where Hamilton had its debut.
MFS theater teacher, Holli Kitching, said she was thrilled to hear about the production of this new addition to the Public Theater stage. Kitching noted that she has “a few friends who have been able to see, and they’ve all said that it was really great and that they really enjoyed it and that the music is really good.”
In addition to Suffs’ anticipated success, several sources have compared this breakthrough show to Hamilton. Kitching said she believes that “a lot of people compare it to Hamilton because of the historical content and because it’s starting at the Public because Hamilton started at the Public on the west coast. I think stylistically it’s not exactly like Hamilton; I think stylistically they’re very different, but maybe in terms of the buzz and the excitement around this show you could compare to Hamilton.”
This buzz has many wondering how MFS could bring the impact of this show to our community, as Paul’s story makes waves in the theater world. As a member of several Moorestown Friends’ productions, Lila Smith (’22) expressed her thoughts on how best to share the message of Suffs with the rest of the school who may not know about it: “I think if we reacted or at least saw or talked to people involved with the musical we could learn more about Alice Paul through the musical. I think that’s really important and could be a good way for exposing more people to her story.”
The possibility of putting on a school production is unlikely due to usage rights from the show’s creator and writers; however Kitching mentioned that “it could be a situation where the creator wants this to be a story and a message that is performed in schools, so it could be that they release the rights early on and schools can perform it even while its still running in professional venues in New York.” Although it is not guaranteed that this will be the case, she went on to express her enthusiasm surrounding the topic and the fact that the community as a whole is involved in discussion about it [the show].”
