Jeanmarie Simpson Playwright · Actor · Director Licensing

3 performers · 90 minutes

Flight of the Dove

Jeannette Rankin

Flight of the Dove
Enquire about this play
Synopsis

Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the United States Congress, reflects on her life and her activism. Memory, public history, and a contemporary narrator collide in a portrait of a woman who kept choosing peace when nearly everyone around her chose otherwise, from the Montana suffrage campaign through her two votes against war.

Print a one sheet
Jeanmarie Simpson as Jeannette Rankin
Flight of the Dove

At a glance

What a producer needs first

Cast

3 performers

Running time

90 minutes

Genre

Historical drama

Technical demand

Sparse and flexible

Availability

Script on requestLicensed through Upstage Left Press

Characters

3 performers to cast
Narrator Any gender or age. Addresses the audience and provides contemporary context.
Jeannette Rankin at about 60, recounting her life.
Everyman A versatile role portraying multiple historical figures from Rankin’s era and personal circle.
Staging and technical requirementsSparse and flexible

Minimal staging with flexible design possibilities. Projections, recorded material, and sound may establish period and location. A small chair and table for the narrator are the essential furnishings.

What you will need
  • A company of 3 performers
  • A slot of 90 minutes
  • Technical capacity described as sparse and flexible
  • A performance licence, granted separately from the script

Themes

What it is really about
Pacifism Suffrage Political courage American history
I write plays to entertain in the truest sense of the word: to give serious attention to people, questions, and histories that are too often pushed aside. Jeanmarie Simpson, artist statement
In the classroom

The companion piece to Jeanmarie’s best known work. Pairs with a civics, government, or women’s history unit, and with the Rankin background essay published on this site.

Request a review copy All educator resources
Book a guest
discussionOpenOrder the
scriptOpen
Performance rights

Stage it

Rights are available for universities, schools, community theatres, festivals, workshops, staged readings, and independent productions.

Enquire about rights How licensing works

For
educatorsScene packets, guides, review copiesOpenOrder a
scriptPDF or hard copy, $25Open

Keep going

Where to next
The whole
repertoireFilter by cast size and running timeOpenAbout the
playwrightForty years of workOpenPast
productionsWhat has been stagedOpen

New plays and new productions, twice a year. Nothing else.

Sign up