Michele LaRue in “Someone Must Wash the Dishes: An Anti-Suffrage Satire” at East Lynne Theater Company.
“Woman suffrage is the reform against nature,” declares Marie Jenney Howe’s unlikely, but irresistible heroine. “Ladies, get what you want. Make home a hell on earth – but do it in a womanly way! That is so much more dignified than dropping a piece of paper into a ballot box.”
Howe, a pro-suffragist, wrote her “Anti-Suffrage Monologue” in 1912. Her fictional speaker believes her efforts as a “womanly woman” will keep the Home intact and save the Nation from anarchy.
The award-winning Equity professional East Lynne Theater Company presents “Someone Must Wash the Dishes: An Anti-Suffrage Satire” on Sunday, Aug. 13 at 8 p.m. Performed by Michele LaRue, this humorous one-act will be followed by a Q&A. The location is the First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes St.
LaRue has been performing her one-woman shows throughout the country. A popular piece is “Gettysburg: One Woman’s War,” three stories from Elsie Singmaster’s book “Gettysburg.” She presented this stirring work at one of ELTC’s “Tales of the Victorians” in July.
This special event is co-sponsored with Cape May Forum, who is offering a special dinner/show package with the Merion Inn. For these $60 tickets, contact Cape May Forum directly at (609) 770-2626 or visit www.capemayforum.org. ELTC tickets are also available for $27; $17 for full-time students and military; and ages 12 and under free. For these, call ELTC at (609) 884-5898 or visit www.eastlynnetheater.org.
ELTC’s final “Tales of the Victorian’s” is on Aug. 10. “Ah, Wilderness!” continues on the mainstage through Sept. 2.