Event

Most Dangerous Women

2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, founded at The Hague in the midst of World War I. Fifteen hundred women from a dozen countries--including many at war with one another--came together to demand that women's voices be heard and that governments resolve conflict through peaceful means.

The women were denounced as dangerous and subversive, but they didn't give up. Most Dangerous Women tells their stories, and the stories of women since who have worked to bring peace and social justice to the world. The words of women such as Jane Addams, Jeannette M. Rankin, Helen Caldicott, Alice Walker, Coretta Scott King, Aung San Suu Kyi, Wangari Maathai, and Malala Yousefzai are interwoven with headlines, historical documents, poems, and lots of songs. Howard Zinn said of Most Dangerous Women, "what they tell their audiences both educates and inspires." Jody Williams, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate featured in the play commented, "If we want a more peaceful world, we have to teach people that such a world is possible. Most Dangerous Women contributes to those efforts."

This special 100th anniversary production of Most Dangerous Women marks the Vermont debut of the play, and is directed by playwright Jan Maher. Matthew LaRocca is music director.

Maher is a novelist, playwright, and educator who lives in NY State and teaches at Burlington College; LaRocca is a composer, performer and educator recently moved to Vermont from Massachusetts. Maher and LaRocca are casting a diverse ensemble to bring the words and work of over 80 "most dangerous women" to Burlington audiences.

This production will benefit the peace and social justice work of the Burlington branch of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).