The following description comes from the event organizer.

Why vote? Whose votes will count? These are essential questions for democracy. To investigate why voting matters, StoryBuilding presents AN EQUAL VOICE: THE STORY OF VOTES FOR WOMEN, revised from its 2020 Fertile Ground Festival debut, performed and facilitated by Randi Douglas. Audience members are invited to take part through a well-developed British system of “process drama,” creating an imaginary dramatic world that explores history from different perspectives.

In slightly over one hour, the production presents the historical entanglement of the movements for women’s suffrage, the abolition of slavery, and the prohibition of alcohol, highlighting the perspectives of men and women activists (both “for” and “against”) and key dramatic events during this 72-year political campaign for citizen rights. The relationship between Oregon’s Abigail Scott Dunaway and the eastern icon Susan B. Anthony highlights these swirling currents in U.S. history.

To begin the story, the Mayor schedules a workshop with a women’s history scholar (the performer) and requires council members, staff, interns and committee chairs to attend (roles for the audience). The scholar brings photos, costumes, and props to perform brief moments in the lives of key activists — but she also recruits volunteer readers, pauses to initiate conversations, and asks questions to create an improvised, audience-generated, emerging story.

“What excites me is opening doors to the audience, providing small opportunities (but never any pressure) to participate in history and translate its modern significance. My purpose,” says Douglas, “is to build shared understanding of the progress and backsliding of our democracy, past and present.”

Randi Douglas, an Equity actress/playwright, pioneered early efforts to professionalize theater in Oregon, performing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and as artistic director of the Oregon Repertory Theater. In Michigan, she toured her play about woman suffrage and designed national award-winning StoryBuilding episodes for the Detroit Historical Museums on topics including The Underground Railroad; Anishnabe – The Original People; The Nashville Lunch Counter Sit-Ins; Immigrant Detroit in 1914; and more. Participant comments: “It made everyone’s mind open and we stopped thinking about the differences between us,” “we were thinking and having fun at the same time,” “inspiring and motivating!”

Three performances at Portland Playhouse Studio (April 13 at 2pm and 7pm and April 14 at 2pm) and three performances at Artists Repertory Theatre (April 18 at 5pm and April 19 at 5pm and 7:30pm) as part of the Fertile Ground Festival.