A Single Woman

Berkeley, Ca. -- Audiences in the Bay Area will be able to experience a passionate, timely play about a unique advocate for peace, free speech, women, children, labor, immigrants, Native and African Americans, and Holocaust refugees. Jeannette Rankin was elected, even before Suffrage, as the first congresswoman. She voted against US entry into both world wars: In 1917, and again in 1941 when hers was the lone dissenting voice, (as was Rep. Barbara Lee against the Iraq invasion in 2002). In 1968 she led the Jeannette Rankin Brigade of 5000 women on the Capitol in DC against the Vietnam War and demanded unilateral disarmament, nuclear and otherwise. She once said, "You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake."

With the original cast A Single Woman creator, Jeanmarie Simpson, performs the role of Rankin: "It's vital that people meet Jeannette Rankin, her words, her actions and her remarkable character. The more people become involved, the more of an impact Jeannette's voice can make on contemporary culture." Critics have broadly acclaimed the play: "Simpson cleverly portrays Rankin's fury by violently kneading bread – a dual task women often perform). When (she) speaks, the air is electrified; her words are surely filled with as much power as Rankin's ever were…timing and emotion are intense and flawless." Miranda Jesch, Reno News and Review.