In ‘Suffs,’ a Theatrical Reminder That the Fight for Equality Is Eternal

In its two hours and 30 minutes, Suffs delivers more than a retelling of the American suffrage movement. Sure, its content might help a student check off a bullet point on a history class syllabus.

But the musical, which saw its San Francisco premiere this week at the Orpheum Theatre and runs through Nov. 9, offers something much deeper and more valuable. It brings humanity to the names and faces behind the decades-long suffrage movement. In so doing, it delivers insight into a fight for rights that, unfortunately, resonates a century later.

Suffs first premiered in 2022 off-Broadway, starring Shaina Taub, the creator behind the book, music and lyrics. After making the leap to Broadway, it went on to win two Tony awards, for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical, in 2024.

In its first run with a touring company, it’s easy to see why. The play follows spunky suffragist Alice Paul (Maya Keleher), fresh out of university and armed with an unrelenting drive to challenge President Woodrow Wilson’s opposition to women’s suffrage. Suffs documents her determination to secure a constitutional amendment guaranteeing her and her fellow women — well, white women — the right to vote.

Joining Paul at the start of her activism are women who would become the core of the National Woman’s Party: Paul’s college friend Lucy Burns (Gwynne Wood), the movement’s prominent public face Inez Milholland (Monica Tulia Ramirez), secretary Doris Stevens (Livvy Marcus), and Polish-American labor organizer Ruza Wenclawska (Joyce Meimei Zheng).

Offering a clear-eyed take on a movement often romanticized as a seamless sisterhood of women who all loved each other (spoiler alert: they didn’t), Suffs depicts the women’s clashing approaches to activism. Paul’s relentless militancy butts up against veteran suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt’s (Marya Grandy) cautious pragmatism.

At the same time, the show doesn’t shy away from the glaring prejudice faced by Black women and Black Americans as a whole, exposing how the suffrage movement often prioritized white women’s advancement. Through the portrayal of journalist, suffragist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells (Danyel Fulton), Suffs emphasizes the innumerable extra challenges she faced while fighting not just for women’s rights, but for the liberation of her people.

These contradictions, masked by the illusion of a united front, are humorously captured in moments when the press snaps “solidarity” photos of women barely concealing their disagreements.

Suffs builds to its final act in Tennessee — the last state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment. Though we as the audience know how it ends, tensions still run high as suffragists crowd the statehouse halls, counting on every possible vote to secure their decades-long fight.

Yet, the story doesn’t end like the fight is over. Yes, Tennessee does secure the votes it needs. And yes, Alice Paul continues to be a key figure in granting women more than just the right to vote. But something about watching Suffs feels like trying to relieve an itch you can’t seem to reach: there’s no simple, satisfactory resolution; it lingers with you. The ending musical number, “Keep Marching,” acts as a reminder that the struggle for equal rights continues.

And so many struggles do continue: Against the backdrop of hundreds of passionate Bay Area residents front and center at Alameda’s Coast Guard Island protesting the arrival of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol early Thursday morning, Suffs felt especially urgent.

Though set over a century ago, the musical still speaks volumes about what it means to fight for something when it seems like the odds are against you. In today’s political climate, its message feels less like a history lesson, and more like a call to action.

‘Suffs’ runs through Sunday, Nov. 9, at the Orpheum Theater (1192 Market St., San Francisco). Tickets and more information here.