JULY 18 • 2024 | 37
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email and said, ‘I have an idea for 
a project and I think you might be 
the right person to write it.’”
Over dinner in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, in 2014, Sussman 
asked Taub if she had ever heard of 
Alice Paul, the National Woman’s 
Party Founder who authored the 
Equal Rights Amendment in 1923. 
She had not.
 Sussman gave Taub a copy 
of Doris Stevens’ book, Jailed 
for Freedom: American Women Win 
the Vote, which was a firsthand 
account of the suffragists’ fight for 
passage of the 19th Amendment.
“I woke up the next morning 
to an email from Shaina at 5 a.m. 
And the subject line just said 
‘YES,’ Sussman recalled. “
And 
Shaina said, ‘We have to do this.’ 
And that sort of was the beginning 
of it all.”
Taub, who also stars as suffragist 
Alice Paul in Suffs, took home two 
Tonys last month for Best Book of 
a Musical and Best Original Score 
(Music and Lyrics).
“There’s a quote from the 
Talmud that I put at the top of my 
script that says, ‘You are not obli-
gated to complete the work, but 
neither are you free to abandon 
it,’” said Taub, who is only the sec-
ond woman in Broadway history 
to write, compose and star in a 
Broadway musical. 
“That’s such a North Star for my 
life and this idea of we’re never 
going to finish these fights for 
equality and justice in our life-
times, but that doesn’t let us off 
the hook.”
In her acceptance speech, Taub 
credited Rachel Sussman “for 
knowing that this story needed to 
be told and changing my life by 
choosing me to tell it.” She also 
thanked co-producer Jill Furman 
“for never giving up.”
Four of the lead female creatives 
behind Suffs are all Jewish: Jill 
Furman, Rachel Sussman, Shaina 
Taub and Director Leigh Silverman.
“I said right before the Tonys 
began that as Jews we say ‘Dayenu’ 
— that would have been enough,” 
Taub explained. “Just to be in the 

room and be a part of this commu-
nity — Dayenu. But to get to win 
on top of that is just more than I 
could have ever imagined. It’s a life-
time’s honor.
“I am so passionate about 
sharing the story, specifically the 
process as a writer,” Taub added. 
“
A lot of people counted us out. A 
lot of people underestimated us. 
Sometimes, there’s nothing quite 
like being underestimated to make 
you rise to the occasion.”
And rise they have. Following 
the Tonys, Sussman announced 
that the next block of Suffs tickets is 
now on sale through Jan. 5, 2025.
“I think we’ve all been in Suffs
together for so long, in the trench-
es, trying to get it to Broadway and 
it not being a home run right away. 
And to be recognized for it now, 10 
years later, it just feels so gratifying 
and validating,” Sussman said. 
“It’s also the most beautiful 
closing of that chapter right now, 
because Suffs is no longer in devel-
opment. It’s open now. Suffs is alive. 
And so my job changes. My job 
now is, how do I share Suffs with 
as many people as possible from 
Broadway to beyond?” 
Sussman currently has more 
than 10 projects in the works. Her 
mentor Hal Prince always told her, 
“The day after you open a show, 
you should be having meetings for 
your next project. You’ve always 
got to be moving forward. You’ve 
always got to be brainstorming 
about what’s next.” 
Sussman concluded, “I feel like 
I’ve really taken that to heart and 
I’m excited about a lot of the things 
I have coming down the pike — 
plays and musicals — but all of 
them speak to my ethos and my 
desire to tell stories either about the 
world around us or women. 
“I’m really interested in work 
that asks that question without 
easy answers. And I think when 
people leave the theater they feel, 
perhaps, galvanized or moved to 
do something with what they’ve 
just come away with.” 

For tickets, visit https://suffsmusical.com.

Mazel Tov

On April 18, 2024, producer Rachel Sussman and 
Emma Galvin, a psychotherapist and actor, attend-
ed the Broadway opening night of Suffs at the 
Music Box Theatre. Six days later, the two were 
married at New York City Hall.
“We plan to have a Jewish ceremony at a later 
date,” says Sussman after their whirlwind two 
months of milestones.
Next came a family baby shower hosted by 
Emma’s brother, actor Noah Galvin, and his fiancé, 
Tony Award-winner Ben Platt. The company of Suffs 
also threw Rachel and Emma a surprise baby show-
er.
On June 3, just 13 days before the Tony Awards, 
Emma’s and Rachel’s son, Shiloh Ziggy Galvin-
Sussman was born.
“Shiloh is a name we both love. It’s derived from 
the Hebrew verb shalah, which means ‘to send’ 
or ‘to appoint,’” Sussman says. “It also has been 
attributed to mean “the peaceful one,” which feels 
apropos given that we hope he will be an antidote 
to so much pain in the world.”
Shiloh’s middle name “Ziggy” is for Sussman’s 
paternal grandma, Zelma Sussman. 

Emma Galvin 
and Rachel 
Sussman 
on their 
wedding day

TREVOR BAUM PHOTOGRAPHY

Rachel Sussman 
and her wife, 
Emma Galvin, on 
Suffs Broadway 
Opening night.

JENNY ANDERSON

