Ladies Reading Room

About the Project

This project is inspired by the Ladies’ Reading Room events that were held in St. John’s in the early part of the 20th century in protest of the fact that women of the time were not allowed to attend or speak at the local debating societies.

The Ladies' Reading Room, where women WERE allowed to make speeches and debate, was the incubator for the creation of the Women's Franchise League – the leading suffrage group in our province’s history. This group was the instigator of our province’s earliest women’s marches and other work for equality.

“The women developed confidence as public speakers by giving papers, and debating and analyzing issues, all within a socially respectable atmosphere defined by cups of tea and genteel female company.” (https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/womens-history-group.php)

Our idea is to host seven public events in homage to the original Ladies Reading Room and their popular Current Events Club.

Our Ladies Reading Room events will occur monthly, on the first Tuesday of each month, from April-October 2021 at the E.B. Foran Room at City Hall.

These free events, open to the public, will start with a short 5-10 minute theatrical performance, set in 1921, written by a local female playwright, directed by a local female director, with costumes designed and constructed by local designers, and performed by a local female actor.

Each month will have a theme related to women’s equality that was relevant to women both in 1921 and 2021.

Following the theatrical performance, we will “jump forward in time” to host an expert panel discussion on the same topic from a current-day perspective, involving participation from the community.

Importantly, links on progress (or lack-thereof) between 1921 and 2021 will be emphasized.

Tea will served in both period-appropriate and environmentally sustainable china cups to all.

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
Women & Non-binary, NL-Based
Playwrights, Directors, Actors & Costume Designers
Deadline: July 31, 2020

The organizing committee is now calling for expressions of interest from NL professional theatre artists of all backgrounds and levels of experience to participate in the Ladies' Reading Room, part of Votes for Women 100, a theatre- and activism-based commemoration of 100 years since women in St. John's first achieved the right to vote in municipal elections.

Please review the project overview before applying.

The Ladies' Reading Room initiative includes the creation, development, rehearsal and production of six (6) new short (under 15 minutes) monologues with themes varying from politics to legacy to women's work, all set in 1921.

These will provide the background for audience and panel discussions of the continuing relevance of historical issues as well as the intersectional voices of contemporary feminism.

We will be seeking to engage a playwright, director, performer and wardrobe designer/builder for each of these works, which will be presented monthly from April to September 2021.

We really don’t want to overlook the opportunity to hire anyone who might be interested in being involved in this project!

Whether you believe that you are known to the organizing committee or not, ALL artists interested in becoming involved in any of the four capacities are asked to fill out a short contact form here.

The organizing committee will use this list of interested artists to put out specific calls as we refine the themes to be developed.

Through professional theatre and related initiatives, PerSIStence Theatre responds to the persistent and universal need for promoting, understanding and embracing the core beliefs of feminism. Our definition of women explicitly includes anyone on the gender spectrum who identifies either always or some of the time as a woman. We are also dedicated to serving and welcoming those who identify as nonbinary. PerSIStence is also committed to helping uplift under-served artists in our community through diverse and inclusive hiring practices. Learn more at persistencetheatre.com.

Deadline to submit: Friday July 31, 2020