Arts
The Show Must Go On
Academy of Our Lady of Peace Original Play on Women ’ s Suffrage Adapts to COVID-19 Pandemic
OLP ’ s New Theater
In 2020 , students at San Diego ’ s oldest all-girl ’ s high school , the Academy of Our Lady of Peace , embarked on developing the school ’ s first original play , but when it became clear that holding an on-campus production as normal would be impossible due to COVID-19 , the girls were quick to innovate .
Social studies department chair and alumna of the school , Emily Devereaux , approached drama director Justin Tracy with the idea of telling the story of women ’ s suffrage to commemorate the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment . Immediately , they formed teams of student researchers and playwrights .
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ShaWanna Renee Rivon NAACP-nominated producer and playwright for her first stage play Deal Breakers co-produced with Lisa Nicole Bell , which premiered in Los Angeles , California
Shortly after , the school was moved to virtual learning in light of COVID-19 . The group decided that cancelling the production was not an option and continued their work remotely . “ I knew that we had to put a show on , and I thought this would be a great opportunity to do something different . It is hard to overstate how excited the students got about this . I had a lot of students tell me that this is the thing that has helped them get through this difficult time ,” Tracy said .
The researchers conducted a close inquiry into the moments in history most critical to the Women ’ s Suffrage Movement . They shared their findings with the student writers , who worked with playwright ShaWanna Renee Rivon to develop monologues and dialogues that captured the long and difficult journey to suffrage .