Hello. My name is Cicely Hamilton. In 1909, I wrote a play in support of the British women's suffrage movement called A Pageant of Great Women. At the time, there was a ridiculous argument being promulgated that women didn't need or deserve the vote because, historically, women were of no great consequence. Rubbish, of course. The aim of my Pageant was to silence such drivel. My Pageant included forty historically significant women – including two British queens, for heaven's sake.

Screen displays: picture of Cicely Hamilton as Christian Davies.

Oh, look – there's me. In my Pageant, I played the part of Christian Davies, an Irishwoman who dressed as a man and joined the British army in 1693.

Screen displays: more images from A Pageant of Great Women.

Oh, yes, look – more pictures. It was something.

My Pageant was narrated by the allegorical figures of Justice and Prejudice. Justice was played by a woman and Prejudice was played by a man – of course. My Pageant was performed all over England by professional actresses and amateurs. Many local communities added their own Great Women to the Pageant. I was pleased, so very pleased by its activist fervor and its ability to rally the troops to the cause of women's suffrage. But here we are over a century later – with another generation of activist playwrights, again challenging you, the audience, to think about women and voting rights. This Agitating Pageant you are about to see has over seventy historically significant women characters – you Americans always overdo things – but I appreciate the activist spirit of what will no doubt be a very crowded stage. You will also again meet in this Agitating Pageant the figures of Justice and Prejudice, but this time Justice is performed by a woman of color while Prejudice is played by a white woman. Now, to be clear – this does not mean that there weren't American men trying to keep women from voting – of course there were. What it does mean is that there is a great deal more to this American story. Thank you.