A one-woman show about an American trailblazer for women’s rights will be performed at Alna's historic 1789 meetinghouse on Alna Road in Alna, at 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 17 and 18. "Representation and How to Get It" is a new play about Julia Ward Howe—renowned suffragist, abolitionist, and author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” This play has toured historic sites in New England for the past three years, including Boston’s Old South Meetinghouse and New York City’s United Solo Theatre Festival. The Alna production is sponsored by Historic Alna and Friends of Head Tide Church.

One of the most famous American women of her day, Julia Ward Howe lived in Boston but was a frequent visitor to Gardiner to visit her daughter Laura, one of six children. Laura (Howe) Richards, a writer like her mother, lived with her family for many years in “The Yellow House” in Gardiner which was on the National Register of Historic Places until it was lost to fire in 2022.

Julia Ward Howe became a writer and a charismatic public speaker at a time when women were vilified for speaking out. She traveled around the U.S. for decades, speaking and organizing for women’s rights, founding and presiding over numerous organizations, inventing Mother's Day as an international women’s call for world peace, writing, publishing and protesting. For over 40 years, she made an annual trip to the Massachusetts State House to argue before the legislators that women should have the right to vote, saying “No man can have more at stake in the community than I have.” 

Actor Elaine Vaan Hogue who performs the role of Julia said, "This play is a call to action. Julia’s words are so inspiring. They resonate powerfully with our political situation today.”

Written by playwright Joyce Van Dyke and developed collaboratively with Vaan Hogue and director Judy Braha, the play runs about 40 minutes. The audience is invited to join in the post-show conversation with performer Elaine Vaan Hogue and a panel of local women leaders.

For more information about Julia Ward Howe and "Representation and How to Get It," visit https://www.representationtheplay.com.  For more information about the performances at Alna’s Historic 1789 Meetinghouse, email historicalna@gmail.com