What is your role on this production? I am the Director of Blue Stockings. That entails wrangling 19 talented actors and working with an awesome creative team to tell a two-hour(ish) story.
What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? It was my pleasure to direct Portrait of a Family Dinner, one of the one-acts during last year’s From Cradle to Stage.
What made you want to direct this show? I’m extremely passionate about telling female-centric stories, and the fact that Blue Stockings is based on a real-life events (and features real-life, historic figures) was just the cherry on top. I think the vast majority of people know about suffrage and women’s fight for the right to vote, but I think women’s fight for the right to graduate is a lesser-known story, and it’s one that I’m honoured to help highlight and tell.
What has been the most fun thing about working on the show? The biggest challenge? Working with 19 amazing people has been a blast. We work hard, but we also have fun—and when you put a large group of people together like that, the strangest and most bizarre conversations come about as a result.
The biggest challenge has been trying to put myself into the mindset of a person living in the 18th century, and trying to determine whether something would be “historically accurate” for that time period. Would people point? Would they cross their arms? Would ladies slouch in the privacy of their quarters? What kind of alcohol would they drink? Would gentlemen call Uber if they were running late to the cafe? What kind of emojis would they use when texting?
What do you think audiences will take away from the show? Why should they come and see it? I want people to walk away, thinking about their own experiences with education and inequality. Have they ever experienced or witnessed the opposition the Girton Girls faced? What role do they play in women’s rights and their fight for gender equality? How have things changed since the 1800s, and how have they stayed the same?
People should come see Blue Stockings because it’s an important story and they’ll learn about an important moment in women’s history. There’s also dancing, punching, and romance, if you’re into that sort of thing.
This show is about the advancement of women in history… who is a woman from the past (or present) that has inspired you? Why? Frida Kahlo. If I live my life with even an ounce of her brazenness and bravery, I will consider it a life well spent.