10 questions for two-time Tony-winner Shaina Taub on ‘Suffs’

In June 2024, Shaina Taub made Broadway history as the first woman to win Tony Awards for both Best Book and Best Score for her musical “Suffs,” which tells the true story of the determined suffragists who fought for the passage of Proposition 19, which in 1920 granted most American women the right to vote.

Taub not only wrote the inspiring and surprisingly funny book, score and lyrics in “Suffs,” she also starred as the musical’s central character, suffragist Alice Paul, who continued fighting for women’s rights until her death in 1977. “Suffs” premiered off Broadway in 2022 at Manhattan’s Public Theatre. Then, with the backing of producers who included former Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nobel Prize-winning activist Malala Yousafzai, the musical moved to Broadway in March 2024.

While the fight for women’s right to vote began in 1847, it made only incremental progress until younger and scrappier women like Paul, Lucy Burns, Inez Milholland, Doris Stevens and Ruza Wenclawska stepped up in 1913 to challenge both the male political establishment and even some older women suffragists like Carrie Chapman Catt who favored slow but steady progress.

Through a march on Washington, D.C., protests and political organizing, the new guard achieved their goal in just seven years. But it was not an absolute victory. Black suffragists like Ida B. Wells would not earn their right to vote until 1965.

The Broadway production of “Suffs” closed in January 2025, and Taub moved next into portraying another famous woman activist, labor leader Emma Goldman, in New York City Center’s Encore Series production of “Ragtime.” Taub is reprising that role in a “Ragtime” remount that’s now in previews at Lincoln Center Theatre. Because of her busy schedule, Taub wasn’t available for a phone interview. Instead she answered 10 questions about “Suffs” via email:

Q: I’ve read you started performing in plays when you were in grade school in your native Vermont and making music and theater have always been at the center of your life. In one of your Tony acceptance speeches last year, you encouraged “loud little girls” to go for it and not be discouraged in the face of adversity. Is that how you would describe yourself growing up, and how did you persevere?

A: I grew up in Vermont watching the Tonys as a kid, so it meant the world to me to get to reach through the screen to the next generation of kids watching, and encourage them to go for it. I was definitely a loud, stubborn little girl. I was extremely fortunate to have a mom who was a former elementary school teacher, who always encouraged my creativity, and supported my passion for theater. Her belief in me gave me the courage to follow my dream.

Q: I read you were inspired to write “Suffs” after one of your eventual producers, Rachel Sussman, gave you a book about suffragist Doris Stevens. Can you tell me what sparked inside you to dedicate yourself to writing this show and how the subject spoke to you as a woman and an activist?

A: When Rachel told me about the suffrage movement, my mind was blown. I had been searching for a story about a group of young women taking on the system, and I had no idea that story had been in my own American backyard the entire time. Immediately I knew how meaningful this story would have been to me as a teen, so I set out to try to write the musical my 14-year-old self would have wanted to see. The suffs were women who found their sense of fulfillment in working hard toward a challenging goal with their friends, and that really spoke to me.

Q: It must have been challenging narrowing down the timeline for this musical story, since there were suffragists dating as far back as 1847. How did you choose your timeline and which real-life suffragists would be represented onstage?

A: There are so many more stories about suffrage movement than just one musical can tackle. I had to make my peace with the fact that my one show could never do it all. The first book I read was “Jailed for Freedom” by the suffragist Doris Stevens, who is now a character in “Suffs,” and the seven-year span she depicted felt like a strong dramatic arc to focus on, with many dynamic, theatrical events like the march and the picket line. I also decided very early on to make the central conflict between the suffragists themselves, because it felt more interesting to me to explore how different people with the same goal can have different ways of trying to achieve it.

Q: Why did you choose your character, Alice Paul, as the central character for your story?

A: Early on, I read a quote by Susan B. Anthony that really unlocked the story for me,“There never was a young woman yet who did not think that if she had had the management of the work from the beginning, the cause would have been carried long ago. I felt just so when I was young.” I knew I wanted to dramatize that moment in life, where a young person comes along who reminds you of you at that age, and you suddenly realize – oh wow, I’m not the young one anymore. And how that moment is coming for all of us at some point. That notion felt most clearly alive in the relationship between Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul — a sort of “mother” and “daughter” of the movement — with all the complexity that entails.

Q: Was it important to show that Alice was flawed in her ambitions, by agreeing to make Black women march in the back of the 1913 parade?

A: It was always essential to me to honestly depict the racism within the suffrage movement. As a dramatist, it’s not my job to glorify or vilify the suffs, but to humanize them, warts and all. As I wrote in “Keep Marching,” I hope we can learn as much from their successes as their mistakes.

Q: It was fun seeing the men’s roles in “Suffs” played by women in an often-tongue-in-cheek way. Was that your intention from the beginning as you wrote the characters and music?

A: Honestly, it was not my intention from the beginning. It was always my hope that “Suffs” be a show that can belong to everyone, because this story is important for boys and men to participate in and hear as well. The all-woman cast was our director Leigh Silverman’s exciting vision. While I think it is an incredibly powerful choice for our Broadway and touring production, I’m so excited to see future productions of “Suffs” cast folks of any gender in these roles. Everyone gets to be a suff.

Q: “Suffs” is such a rare creation with an all-women cast, writer, composer, director, choreographer, music director, scenic designer and on and on. Can you describe the energy and atmosphere of having so many women collaborating on creating this beautiful, inspiring story about women’s rights?

A: It was a truly empowering room to be in — it sort of felt like the college sorority I never had. It was big-hearted, rigorous and good-humored, and healing, I think, for many of us to be in a room where women were in charge.

Q: A musical about the suffrage movement doesn’t sound funny, but there’s a lot of humor in this show, particularly the song “Great American Bitch.” How important was it to you to find moments of comedy to balance the political scenes?

A: Comedy was one of my highest priorities for “Suffs.” These characters were people with a real sense of humor, and I truly think they found their joy in being part of this movement.

Q: My daughter and I had front-row seats to “Suffs” back in May 2024 and we both burst into tears during the “Keep Marching” finale, when the cast members were looking right down into the audience’s faces and urging us to never give up the fight. Was our reaction a common sight for you and the cast every night?

A: That makes me so happy that you had that experience with your daughter. And yes! Our cast and audience shared many tears together throughout our run. Our audience responses were the most moving part of this entire journey. Every night, we got to meet audience members after the show — so many mother/daughter pairs, aunts and nieces, grandmothers and grandkids — and many dads, brothers and sons as well. People often came to see the show again and again and return with their mom, or sorority sisters, or childhood best friends, and more. It’s been so special to see people discover the story of the suffs, many for the first time, and leave hopefully feeling as inspired as I did when I first heard their story.

Q: Congratulations on your two Tony Awards for “Suffs”! You’ve achieved a huge milestone for women Broadway book writers and composers. Can you tell me what doors this has opened for you and what new projects you’re working on now?

A: Thank you so much! I truly feel so lucky that I get to do what I love for a living. I’m working on two new musicals — I can’t announce them yet, but I’m so excited to get to write more shows.

‘Suffs’

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 6:30 p.m. next Sunday

Where: San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown

Tickets: $35.78-$142.90

Online: broadwaysd.com