She Will Lead: Ten Years Later - A Reading of New Work & Community Conversation

Ten years ago, New Hampshire Theatre Project commissioned playwright and director Catherine Stewart to interview millennial voters in the run-up to the 2016 Presidential Election. Those conversations became She Will Lead: Women in Politics, a one-act play that premiered at NHTP in November 2016, weaving contemporary voices with the words of pioneering women who sought the presidency long before a woman appeared at the top of a major-party ticket.

A decade later, Stewart is returning to where the project began and to the conversations that created it.

 

Throughout October 2026, Stewart will conduct a new series of conversations exploring how our ideas about women, leadership, political participation and ambition have, or haven’t, changed over the past ten years. On Thursday, October 29, audiences are invited to NHTP for a first public reading of material emerging from these new conversations alongside selections from Good Lazy Woman, the full-length play that grew from She Will Lead.

The evening will also revisit the remarkable presidential candidacy speeches of Victoria Claflin Woodhull, Margaret Chase Smith and Shirley Chisholm — words spoken decades apart that continue to resonate with questions at the heart of American political life today.

Come hear the new work as it is being made, revisit a project born at NHTP ten years ago, and join the conversation about women, leadership and democracy in America.

Add your voice to the project: Catherine is currently seeking participants for the October interview series. Audience and community members interested in sharing their experiences and perspectives can sign up to take part. Conversations will roam around the play’s themes of women, leadership, ambition, politics, and the expectations we place on those who lead. These conversations will help shape the next chapter of Good Lazy Woman.

You don’t need to be a political expert or have the “right” answers. We’re interested in your experiences, your questions, your contradictions, and what you’ve noticed. No matter where you find yourself on the gender or political spectrum.  If you’d like to add your voice to the project, sign up for a conversation: https://scheduler.zoom.us/catherine-stewart/good-lazy-woman-community-conversation 

Learn more about Good Lazy Woman at goodlazywoman.com.

From the archive: Listen to NHPR’s Sean Hurley report on the original 2016 production, Can A Play About The 2016 Election Change Minds? Listen/read at NHPR

*** FREE EVENT - REGISTRATION REQUIRED ***