Hear the unheard voices of the women from Rutherford County’s history in the upcoming play Party of Twelve, presented at Washington Theater April 8–10, 2022.

The arts have long been alive in Rutherford County, and women have always been at their core. The area is home to many influential female artists, writers and leaders of the women’s rights movement. But whether it be lack of storytelling or lost information, many of these women have lost their voice in today’s age.

In 2019, local arts advocate Andrea Loughry challenged the performing arts community of Rutherford County to do a play highlighting women from our history. The following year, the Rutherford Arts Alliance took on the challenge and commissioned the play with the aim to illuminate women in Rutherford County history and to spark dialogue on important community issues.

The play will highlight 11 influential women plus one MTSU student that were carefully assembled by multiple community organizations to be a diverse representation of the historical impact of women from Rutherford County.

The women being represented include, but are not limited to: enslaved women such as Priscilla Carney and Lucy Burke Maney, local writers like Mary Noailles Murfree, U.S. First Lady Sarah Childress Polk, MTSU’s first black faculty member Mary C. Scales and community activists Sarah McKelley King and Myrtle Glanton Lord.

These Rutherford County natives represent womanhood, its struggles, and its triumphs throughout history.

Andrea Loughry

“These representative women were chosen because, even though some of them are from completely different eras and never knew each other, they are able to have a conversation that has a message,” Loughry says.

Those involved with the production hope that the project will give these women back their voices and that their womanhood will be highlighted, not hidden.

“They are full-blooded women with all that that means,” says Mary Donnett Johnson, Party of Twelve playwright. “You will see all of the colors you see in women in this play.”

It was important to Johnson that the actors in the play were mostly local. Johnson says local actors will better connect with the overall meaning of the play because the actors will be “breathing the same air and walking the same streets as their characters.”

Danielle Roos, Director

After the final performance on April 10, community leaders will participate in a forum where they will sit, answer questions about the process of the play and have an open discussion on topics raised throughout the play.

“People will start to wonder about so many things, and if we can start that conversation it will be an amazing gift to the community,” Johnson said.

Initially, the play was set to debut in 2020 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of women’s right to vote. Shortly after production began, COVID hit and, like much else in the world, the play had to be put on pause.

Though this pause may have been a blessing in disguise for the project.

“One of the blessings of COVID is that these women were able to become alive and talk to us,” Loughry said.

Members from all over the community came together to collaborate and combine archives and artifacts in order to bring these women back to life.

“I didn’t anticipate how many artistic groups we would bring together,” Johnson said. “This project has inspired cross-pollination, incredible sharing, empowerment and respect to be built between the groups in Rutherford County to create such a pride in place.”

With an abundance of information, excitement and a play on pause this project grew into The Leading Ladies of Rutherford County History: The Women Who Inspire Us, an umbrella of community projects designed to exhibit history in motion—rather than a history factsheet.

“The pandemic delayed it from being just a suffrage celebration; it really became [about] women who inspire us,” says Loughry.

Sarah Childress Polk coloring page courtesy of Murfreesboro Parks and Rec

In order to spread the conversation beyond the theater, the project is creating more accessible, portable exhibits around the community.

After the play debuts, the information and artifacts gathered while researching the play will be scanned and added to the Leading Ladies of Rutherford County History website to function as a public archive.

Additionally as part of the effort, artists in the community created a mural in downtown Murfreesboro—on the Maple Street Medical Clinic building—to recognize other leading ladies.

The next step for the Leading Ladies of Rutherford County History is to embark on creating two tours that exhibit the lives and experiences of these women exactly where they took place. One will be a walking tour from downtown Murfreesboro to MTSU, and the other will be a driving tour all over the county.

“Arts, culture and heritage are definitely an economic driver in our economy,” Loughry said. “We are wanting to encourage our institutions to work together in marketing our county as a family-friendly, big-hearted community with lots of cultural aspects.”

Tickets to Party of Twelve are on sale now at leadingladiesrutherford.com. Be sure to purchase soon, as the Friday showing is already sold out! Learn more about the Leading Ladies of Rutherford County History at rutherfordartsalliance.org/leading-ladies.

Washington Theatre is located in Patterson Park Community Center, 521 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Murfreesboro.