ARTS&LIFE
THEATER
“HAL PRINCE WAS THE BEACON OF WHAT
IT MEANS TO BE A PRODUCER. HE WAS
SUCH AN INSPIRATION TO ME AND COUNTLESS
OTHERS COMING UP IN MY GENERATION.”
— RACHEL SUSSMAN
continued from page 35
36 | JULY 18 • 2024
J
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Suffs producers Jill Furman, Nobel Prize laureate Malala
Yousafzai and Rachel Sussman on Suffs Broadway
Opening Night April 18, 2024.
Tony Award winners Rachel Sussman, Alex
Edelman and Shaina Taub at the Tonys after-party.
JENNY ANDERSON
Jenn Colella as Carrie
Chapman Catt and Suffs
Company
JOAN MARCUS
As the 2018-19 [Hal] Prince
Fellow, Sussman received
funding, mentorship and edu-
cation at the Columbia School
of the Arts MFA Producing &
Management Program. Suffs
— back when it was just called
The Suffrage Project — was the
project that Sussman applied
with and spent the year devel-
oping under the Fellowship’s
guidance.
“Hal Prince was the beacon
of what it means to be a pro-
ducer. He was such an inspira-
tion to me and countless others
coming up in my generation,”
Sussman said about the leg-
endary theater producer and
director. “Hal actually gave me
some notes on a rough outline
of Suffs back in 2019 before his
passing and challenged me,
even then, to think about how
to balance the history with the
humanity and relationships of
the characters.”
THE SUFFS JOURNEY
From its early development
with the Prince Fellowship
to its world premiere and
2½-month off-Broadway run
at The Public Theater in 2022,
to its Broadway opening at the
Music Box Theatre on April 18,
2024, Sussman’s passion project
has had a 10-year genesis.
When Sussman was 24, she
wrote to fellow NYU graduate
and singer/songwriter Shaina
Taub, who was 25 at the time.
“I was so enamored with
Shaina’s sound. It’s so eclec-
tic and contemporary. And
she had this real interest in
making stories of women
sing and bringing those into
the musical theater canon,”
Sussman said.
“I was so obsessed with suf-
frage. And after I had decided
that I wanted to be a producer,
that’s really when the idea for
a suffrage musical came back
to mind. So, I sent Shaina an