‘American Dame’ takes the stage

Directors, former students honor American women over holiday weekend

To the Press

One of the many July 4th activities in Charles City this summer will be a play sponsored by the National 19th Amendment Society and directed by Linda Brant.

The American Dame by Philip Lewis will be performed at Trinity United Methodist Church, 601 Milwaukee Street, on Thursday, June 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 3 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available in advance at the Charles City Chamber office, Stitches, or from cast members and 19th Amendment Society board members. Tickets may also be reserved by calling the National 19th Amendment Society at 641-228-3336. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door prior to performances. The price is $10 for adults and $5 for students.

The play is a humorous and sometimes surprising collage of scenes covering the position of  women, from Eve to the modern day. The scenes include a look at women in biblical, Elizabethan, Puritan, Revolutionary, Old West, and suffragette times. Much of the script is taken from historical journals, court records, letters, newspapers, literature and sermons. The style is a fun blend of acting and readers theatre.

The production will benefit The National 19th Amendment Society and their main project, the Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home Museum, southeast of Charles City. Catt was the head of the National American Woman Suffrage Association when American women got the right to vote in 1920 with the passage of the 19th Amendment. The Society continues to restore the brick farmhouse, the profits from this play going toward  historical  replacements for the upstairs windows.

Director Brant pulled together an experienced cast, mostly alumni who acted for Brant in the  CCHS speech and drama department between 1980 and 2014, or actors who have been community theatre actors in Charles City. Cast members include Tim Mitchell, the vocal director of Union High School in LaPorte City; Mike Lembke, speech and drama director at Charles City High School; Robin Krueger, director of the summer youth drama program at the Charles Theatre; and Sherri Ploeger, a speech judge and volunteer at Waverly-Shell Rock High School. The cast is rounded out by Mitchell Hanson, Hunter Menken, Katherine Bailey, Shannon Dailey and Rachel Baxter. Brant has worked with members of the cast in 37 main stage shows as well as many contest plays.

For more information, contact the National 19th Amendment Society or director Linda Brant at 641-228-7635 or lindabrant@mchsi.com.