Until she landed the lead role as Alice Paul in the “Suffs” touring company, actor Maya Keleher,  like many people, knew about two paragraphs’ worth of history about the struggle of women suffragettes to gain the right to vote.

“I learned about the 19th Amendment,” she said. “And I knew about Ida B. Wells and Susan Anthony. I didn’t know about Alice Paul. It didn’t come up in school.”

And so, for Keleher, rehearsals turned into history lessons, with outside reading about Paul, a Quaker who was born in Moorestown, N.J., and attended Moorestown Friends School, just across the river from Philadelphia.

Paul studied for her undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College, where a dorm has been named in her honor, and earned two advanced degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. She later returned to Moorestown, where she died in 1977 at the age of 92.

“I had heard about the show,” Keleher said, “but I didn’t have a lot of historical context.”

The show, a musical presented by Ensemble Arts Philly Jan. 6 through 18 at the Academy of Music, got off to a slow start off-Broadway in New York. But in 2024, the Broadway version earned playwright Shaina Taub two Tony Awards – Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical. Hillary Clinton and activist Malala Yousafzai (who will be honored by WHYY in April) were producers.

“I learned so much about her tenacity and her fight,” Keleher said. “She was so relentlessly committed to her causes.”

Danyel Fulton (Ida B. Wells), Trisha Jeffrey (Mary Church Terrell), and Victoria Pekel (Phyllis
Terrell) in a scene from “SUFFS,” which looks at the struggles in securing all women’s right to vote. (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Paul began her advocacy for women’s suffrage in Great Britain. There, her relentless commitment led to hunger strikes, beatings and multiple stints in prison, where sometimes she was force-fed.

By the time she came back to the United States, Paul’s work – and troubles – in Great Britain were well-known, so her efforts here received headline coverage in U.S. newspapers. Paul and the other suffragettes endured much the same in America, including imprisonment, beatings and force-feedings. Paul led marches in Washington, D.C., and kept up effective lobbying until the 19th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1920.

“I think we forget how close this history was to us,” said Keleher, noting that her grandmother was born before women received the right to vote. “It wasn’t that long ago that women were able to get their own credit cards and their own bank accounts.”

However, back then, there was controversy in the movement, a controversy reflected in “Suffs.” In the struggle to convince the states – particularly southern states – to ratify the 19th Amendment allowing women to vote, Black women were sidelined.

The amendment was no guarantee of the actual ability of Black women to vote. Many states established serious barriers to voting and the vote for Black women wasn’t protected until the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Keleher said she believes voting rights are endangered these days – “unfortunately, because of the rhetoric that we’re hearing. I can only hope that it doesn’t go farther than people talking about it, but even hearing people talk about it already makes it a threat.”

Marya Grandy (center) plays Carrie Chapman Catt in “SUFFS,” at the Academy of Music Jan 6-18. (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Keleher wants the audience to understand that people should never give up the fight for a better world. “We should dream of a better future,” she said. “The world we can imagine is the world we should fight for.”

Or as Keleher/Paul sings in what reviewers have described as a rousing show, “Will you fail or prevail, well, you may never know, But keep marching, keep marching.”

Meanwhile, she hopes audiences are “coming away with some aspect of hope, collective hope,” she said. “I think the idea that you are sitting in this room, experiencing the story, and experiencing the emotions, there’s a lot of community in that. There is hope and connection in that.”

FYI

“Suffs”, Jan. 6-18, Ensemble Arts Philly, Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St., Phila. 215-893-1999.