Sally J. Perkins

Digging in their Heels: The story of woman's suffrage told like never before! Hilarious, poignant, honest, inspiring

"Digging in their Heels" is an engaging, interactive, one-hour storytelling performance about women's battle for the vote.  

Professional storyteller Sally Perkins, recently touted by a New York City reviewer as "the consummate performer and teacher," takes her audience on a wild ride through the 72-year fight for woman's suffrage, re-imagining the suffragists as if they had i-Phones, Uber drivers, and Twitter.  

She has audiences laughing, crying, and learning, as she makes this historical story fully relevant to women today.

History is brought to live through her interactive use of modern and old photography, a timeline, and a map, as Sally makes the complex controversies of the movement accessible to modern audiences.  While her performance is hilarious and engaging it is also honest and poignant in its treatment of the racial discrimination that was rampant among white suffragists.

Over and again, audiences walk away from "Digging in their Heels" saying: "I didn't know what I didn't know.  I didn't know what it really took for women to win the vote and who suffered in the process. And I had SO much fun learning it all!"

Recently, Sally performed "Digging in their Heels" at the United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City, where a reviewer from the Electric Link Journal wrote: "Sally's passion for women’s rights makes you wish you had her in history class so you would actually remember what you were learning and go on to make a difference. She is inspirational and clever and knows how to engage the audience from start to finish. Her sense of humor and timing are second to none and she brilliantly blends history with contemporary references and analogies that are hilarious and right on target. You leave grateful for a performance that reminds you of women who fought endlessly, compelled to continue the momentum through action or at the very least, conversation."

In addition to the United Solo Theatre Festival, Sally has performed "Digging in their Heels" at the 2018 Indy Fringe Theatre Festival, the National Storytelling Network Conference, the Indiana League of Women Voters Conference, the Rytech Sunshine Conference, and for many other audiences.

Sally is touring the country, performing for universities, women's conferences, professional conferences, churches, theaters, and civic organizations all of whom will be celebrating the centennial of the 19th Amendment in the United States. This piece is a unique, educational, inspiring, entertaining complement to any conference or event.  And it is fitting with the theme of "balance" as it allows audiences to glance back at the initial battles for gender and racial balance in the United States to see how far we've come and how far we have to go.

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