A new opera premiered at Hughes last weekend to a captivated audience. ‘Are Women People?’ was a resounding success, packing out the Pavilion Room and thrilling attendees.
While World War I is raging, another battle is taking place in the parlours of many homes in England. Are Women People? offers a comic look at the argument for women’s suffrage.
Mr. and Mrs. Webb are anti-suffragist. Their daughter Amanda is adamant about women’s right to vote and she finds all opposing opinions to be ludicrous. In the Webb’s parlour the family debate and mimic different characters to make their points. Lively video accompanies many scenes.
Composer Kate Waring has drawn on poetry, quotations and news items from Alice Duer Miller’s book entitled Are Women People? Miller was a poet, suffragist, and novelist whose books were often turned into Hollywood movies. This material first appeared regularly in a column for the New York Tribune starting in February 1914 and was later compiled as a book.
