KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Burn Vote, a musical about a Representative from East Tennessee who cast the deciding vote for women's suffrage in 1920, is set to premiere on April 25 at the Old City Performing Arts Center in downtown Knoxville.
This play is a world premiere original musical about the history of Tennessee's role in the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the group said.
"No one expected that the final step in securing women's voting rights would come down to the state of Tennessee, much less to the tie-breaking vote of a 24-year-old junior legislator, Harry T. Burn," the center said.
During the second round of voting Burn, who had previously voted against the ratification, changed his overturning vote after receiving a letter from his mother. In this letter, his mother "gently" urged him to vote for suffrage, and changed the course of history.
The group said this musical is told through American folk music, ensemble-driven storytelling and a "whopping" dose of humor.
The play is set to be directed by Amelia Peterson with the music done by Don and Lore Chaffer. The book for the play was written by Chris Craigin Day.
"The Burn Vote reminds us that the work of justice is almost never grand and sweeping but small and seemingly insignificant," it said. "Seventy long years of protests and advocacy, imprisonment and violence, can come down to a few words exchanged between a mother and son."
Anyone interested in seeing the play can buy tickets online. Prices range between $7 and $45.
