Column: Academy of Our Lady of Peace play takes on the 19th Amendment with a 2020 plot twist

When the students at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace realized that their new play about the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment would have to happen under 2020 conditions, they knew they had some modern-day problem-solving to do.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, “The Suffrage Project” would have to be filmed instead of performed live. The performers couldn’t be in close contact, so their scenes would have to be shot separately and then edited together. And then there was the matter of getting the finished product to the public.

It was a lot to deal with, but the young women of the all-girls high school in University Heights were ready. Because what better way to prepare for the challenges of the present than by taking on the complexities of the past?

“Normally, our shows are for a very broad audience. We have alumnae, little sisters, parents. And since we were writing this one ourselves, we had to think very carefully about what we wanted to put into it,” said Eliana Oliver, an OLP senior who is also the show’s producer.

“Because there is so much gritty stuff that happened in the suffrage movement and a lot of not so PG-rated events, we had to decide how much we wanted to show. But I think we were able to find a good balance between showing the accomplishments of the suffrage movement and exposing what wasn’t so good about it, and also talking about how far we still have to go for women’s rights.”

Even before the pandemic sent the play in a whole new direction, “The Suffrage Project” was meant to be a challenge.

Earlier this year, social-studies department chair Emily Devereaux approached drama-department director Justin Tracy with the idea of doing a production about the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. Devereaux figured that between her team of researchers and Tracy’s group of playwrights, the students could not only present a play about the history of the 19th amendment, they could write it.

Within a few days of their conversation, Devereaux and Tracy started advertising for participants on the school’s newscast. A few days after that, San Diego’s schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But like the women who inspired it, “The Suffrage Project” would not be shut down. And neither would its creators. As soon as school ended in May, Tracy and Deveraux gave their teams a week off, and then everyone went back to work.

“I’m not one to roll over for that sort of stuff. I knew that we had to put a show on, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to do something different,” Tracy said. “It’s hard to overstate how excited the students got about this. I had a lot of students tell me that this is the thing that has helped them get through this time.”

First, members of the research team took an in-depth look at pivotal people and moments on the 19th Amendment timeline. Then the research was given to the playwrights, who worked with writer, actor and coach ShaWanna Renee Rivon to create a compilation of monologues and dialogues that would capture the long and difficult march to suffrage.

In the process, they learned about the ties between the suffrage movement and the abolitionist movement. They learned about overlooked figures like Nashville activist Anne Dallas Dudley and Black journalist Ida B. Wells. They also learned about racism within the movement, as leaders like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton argued that the women’s right to vote should come before the right of Black men to vote, and that the women’s vote should go to “educated” women, which served to keep Black women out of the conversation.

Like any piece of history, the fight for women’s suffrage wasn’t simple, orderly or fair. But for the members of “The Suffrage Project,” it has certainly been educational.

“There were a lot more struggles in the suffrage movement than what I learned about when I was growing up,” said Loren de Los Santos, a senior who was on the research and marketing teams and who is also editing the film. “There was a lot of discord over what group to give priority to, and I didn’t know any of that. I think it could come as a shock (to audiences) that people said some of the things they said. A lot of the things in this play I never knew about, but I’m glad I know about them now.”

And thanks to modern technology and the efforts of teacher Tracy, student producer Oliver and the production’s cast and crew, other people will know these things, too. The “Suffrage Project” film will be available for on-demand rental from Nov. 13 through Nov. 30. The rental lasts for 48 hours. The young women behind the film hope the impact will have a much longer shelf life.

“Our plan in the long run is to publish this so that other schools can perform it,” Oliver said. “The message is that you shouldn’t give up and you should always keep fighting for what you believe in. Voting is so important, especially in the realm of human rights. The suffrage movement is still not over. We can’t give up.”

For more information on “The Suffrage Project,” go to the womenssuffrageproject.org.