An opera in one act by Max Caplan, commissioned and produced by Musicians of Ma’alwyck and paired with The Burden of the Ballot, an original one-act play about Albany’s Anti-Suffrage movement by Krysta Dennis.
ALEDA OR THE FLIGHT OF THE SUFF BIRD WOMEN
CLYNK, Glenville Business & Technology Park
Route 5 (Amsterdam Road)
Scotia/Glenville, NY 12302
Admission Price: $25/$10 Get your tickets here.
June 8 & 9 at 7pm
June 10 at 5pm
Set in Staten Island in 1916, Aleda tells the true story of a unique women's suffrage demonstration attempted by early female pilot Leda Richberg-Hornsby and the National American Woman Suffrage Association (N.A.W.S.A.). Equipped with a bi-plane, a cargo of votes-for-women petitions, and a huge banner reading "Women want liberty too," the suffragists endeavored to fly over New York Harbor during a national celebration at the Statue of Liberty in order to "bomb" President Woodrow Wilson with petitions. The elaborate plan ended in something of a fiasco as a gale of wind forced a premature crash-landing in a Staten Island swamp (luckily no one was hurt) – yet the attempt stands as a testimony to the courage and inventiveness (not to mention dramatic flair) of these women in their struggle for the right to vote. The unique performance venue, a 1942 Navy warehouse built to service aircraft, lends itself beautifully to this compelling story of the suffrage movement.
Aleda or the Flight of the Suff Bird Women
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Image of pilot Leda Richberg-Hornsby with posing with suffragists
