Student actors read off scripts, but effectively got the story, and their characters, across
The play “Failure is Impossible” took on the story of women’s suffrage on March 30 in the Davis Fine Arts Center’s Fann S. Belcher Theatre.
Directed by Susan Marrash-Minnerly, stage-managed by Kim Waybright, with Doug Minnerly assisting with graphic design, the performance portrayed struggles women had to face to get their right to vote and West Virginia’s role in that long fight. The play is based on the original script “Unalienable” by Dan Kehde.
Even though the actors read off their scripts, they did a great job of telling the story and differentiating between each character, if they played more than one. The actors included Kim Waybright, Katurah Deweese, Carrie Kirk, Rob James, Michele Baranaskas, Nancy Tyler, Rhonda Rogombe, Jim-Bob Williams, Mary Downey and Patience Deweese.
The play goes through events from 1848 to 1920 and describes how the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, giving women the right to freely vote for whoever they wanted. Before this, voting was left to men, and women had to leave elections to their husbands’ beliefs and whims. The show depicts how some men in office tried to help but were shut down many times. The play also teaches about some of history’s important women and the National Woman Suffrage Association.
As it perfectly explained the history of Women’s Suffrage, in the end it was a great story that showed what women really went through to be seen as almost equal.
