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
N

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 

