Shenandoah University To Celebrate Women’s History Month

Shenandoah University will mark Women’s History Month in March by hosting its second-ever Women’s History Month Film Series, as well as a staged reading of “Onward Victoria,” a musical about the first woman to run for president of the United States, written by, among others, Shenandoah University board of trustees member and playwright Irene Rosenberg Wurtzel.

Presented by the gender & women’s studies and film studies programs, the Women’s History Month Film Series, “From Responsibility To Activism,” is free and open to the public with showings at 7 p.m. each Tuesday evening in March (except for March 14, which falls during Shenandoah’s spring break) in Halpin-Harrison Hall, Stimpson Auditorium.

Films presented are all from 2016 and include:

• March 7 – “Hidden Figures” – Director, Theodore Melfi – The incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.

• March 21 – “Things To Come” – Director: Mia Hansen-Løve – Nathalie is a philosophy teacher with a seemingly settled existence, juggling a rich life of the mind with the day-to-day demands of career and family. But beginning with the bombshell revelation that her husband of twenty-five years is leaving her, one by one the pillars of Nathalie’s life start to crumble. For the first time in ages, she finds herself adrift, but also with a newfound sense of liberation. With nothing to hold her back, Nathalie sets out to define this new phase of her life and to rediscover herself.

• March 28 – “20th Century Women” – Director: Mike Mills – In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women – Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields’ home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbor – to help with Jamie’s upbringing.

The film series is also co-sponsored by the university’s mathematics, languages & cultures and mass communication departments, as well as the Office of Student Engagement and Intercultural Programs (which are part of the university’s Division of Student Life). For more information, contact Director of Gender & Women’s Studies and Professor of Comparative Literature Petra Schweitzer, Ph.D., at pschweit@su.edu or 540/545-7380.

You may think Hillary Clinton was the first woman to run for president of the United States, but at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, in Glaize Studio Theatre, Shenandoah Conservatory presents a staged reading of a musical that tells a different story. It is based on the life of Victoria Woodhull, a woman who, in 1872 – half a century before women achieved the right to vote – ran for president.

The staged reading is the culmination of a week-long residency with the creators of “Onward Victoria.” The book and lyrics were written by Wurtzel and Charlotte Anker, with music by Keith Herrmann – all three of whom will be on campus for the residency with Shenandoah Conservatory students.

The musical, which has appeared on and off-Broadway, tells the story of Victoria Woodhull, who moved to New York City with her sister Tennessee Clafin in the later half of the 19th century and started a movement with their radical views on sex, love, politics and business. In New York, Victoria and Tennessee won a supportive following, including the adoration of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, who financed the sisters’ first assault on sexist taboos by backing Tennessee to become the first female stock broker.

Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis for the staged reading of “Onward Victoria” presented at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, in Glaize Studio Theatre, located on the campus of Shenandoah University. It is directed by Director of Musical Theatre and Assistant Professor of Theatre Kevin Covert, B.F.A. Music Director and Assistant Professor of Theatre Rick Edinger, M.A., serves as music director.

Learn more about the staged reading of “Onward Victoria” and the week-long residency here.