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In Powerstories’ ‘Conscience,’ Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington
“You can’t look back on her and say what she did was futile; it wasn’t,” actress Roxanne Fay says.
Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican senator from Maine, made history in 1950 by giving a speech in front of Congress condemning the then-current investigation into “un-American activities,” in the form of Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R – Wisconsin) and his bullying hunt for Communists.
By hurling accusations, often without evidence, that American society, and government, had been infiltrated and subverted, McCarthy had produced an atmosphere of fear and distrust.
Smith was the first to level public criticism of McCarthy’s “Red Scare” tactics. In her speech, the “Declaration of Conscience,” she gave voice to what others had been thinking:
“I think that it is high time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech, but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation.”
She also noted: “I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny — fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear.”
Clareann Despain. Photo provided.
Powerstories Theatre Executive Artistic Director Clareann Despain hears the footfalls of history in current American politics, and that’s why the company is producing Joe DiPietro’s play Conscience this weekend, at Stageworks in Tampa.
Conscience is the story of Margaret Chase Smith and her defining historical moment of June 1, 1950. It’s being presented as a staged reading, in that the staging will be limited, and the actors will have scripts in hand.
“Our staged readings,” Despain says, “are designed to allow us to put something up quickly that we think is of vital importance for the community to think about, and talk about.
“What conclusions the audience wants to draw about particular parallels are entirely up to them. But we certainly felt that this had a really important message for right now. And it is most assuredly not a mistake that the League of Women Voters will be in the lobby doing voter registration at every performance.”
It’s all in line with the 26-year-old Powerstories company’s mission statement: To tell tales of powerful, inspirational and influential women. “Margaret Chase Smith spoke truth to power, in a way that continues to echo today,” Despain says.
“Joe McCarthy was very bombastic and loud,” relates actress Roxanne Fay, who’ll portray Smith. “He was the loudest voice in the room. And she was really quiet – her approach was always very low-key.
“And I thought, no wonder we don’t remember her, and we remember Joe McCarthy. He would have driven over her like a truck. And he did.”
McCarthy wasn’t censured by the Senate until 1954, when he began sniffing around the American armed forces for “Commies.” That’s when the tide really turned.
“You can’t look back on her and say what she did was futile; it wasn’t,” Fay believes. “It was enough of a precursor – sometimes it takes one person to go “No – this is wrong,’ for somebody else to think ‘That’s what I thought too.’ While everybody else was going along with him.”
Stephen Riordan plays McCarthy; the production also includes Anna Lauren Sperduto as McCarthy’s wife Jean Kerr, a former Smith supporter, and Mike Bringuier as Smith’s aide de camp William Lewis.
Historians believe Lewis was a closeted homosexual. In his play, DiPetro runs with this theory. “It shows us the way the Lavender Scare intersected with the Red Scare, which had chilling impacts on members of the queer community in the 1950s,” Despain explains.
The staged reading follows Powerstories’ July show, a full production of Predictor, the story of the woman who invented the home pregnancy test. Coming in October is The Wash, about an organized strike among Black washerwomen in 1880s Atlanta.
It’ll be presented at The Studio@620 in St. Petersburg (Powerstories doesn’t have a permanent home, so the shows are produced at theaters on both sides of the bay, depending on who has open days on the calendar).
For Despain, who replaced Powerstories founder Fran Powers as Executive Artistic Director last year, planning and plotting, producing and directing for the single-vision theater company is “a dream come true.
“I think I came out of the womb a feminist, and that aspect of my personality, depending on my job, couldn’t always be fully present. Now, there’s no question.
“I feel like I get to be wholly an artist, and wholly a feminist artist. And getting to tell these incredible stories, the kinds of stories I’ve hunted for my entire life is an honor.
“And it’s a privilege to share them with the community.”
Powerstories’ Conscience is presented Friday through Sunday; Stageworks is at 1120 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. Click here for showtimes and tickets.
