SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN — The League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass County are presenting two live performances of a one-woman show, “Conversations with a Suffragist,” featuring Megan Burnett.

Burnett portrays suffragist Mattie Griffith Browne and shows will be hosted at 3 p.m. at the Vickers Theatre in Three Oaks, on Sept., 18 and at 7:30 p.m. at the Box Factory for the Arts in St. Joseph on Sept., 19.

These performances are being presented by the League of Women Voters to commemorate 100 years of achieving women’s right to vote with the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.

In her one-woman show, Burnett portrays Mattie Griffith Browne, a 19th Century Kentucky suffragist, abolitionist, and author, said event organizers. Born in Owensboro, Kentucky, to a slave-holding family, Browne was determined to free the slaves she inherited from her parents. As an adult, she wrote “Autobiography of a Female Slave” to raise money to free those slaves. She then turned her activism the suffragist movement and worked to obtain the right to vote for all citizens.

“Mattie Griffith Browne continued to reinvent herself, regardless of the thoughts and pressures of others or society, “Burnett said of Browne’s role in the suffragette movement. “She petitioned politicians to end slavery. She sought the right to vote for women as well as all freed slaves. She inspired respect from men and women working in the abolitionist and suffragist movements with her moral and patriotic convictions. She was a true agent of social change, and she is someone I have come to admire.”

Interested readers can purchase tickets in advance for $10, or $12 at the door. There will be limited seating available for students at $5 per ticket. VIP seating at $15 per ticket will be available for the Box Factory performance only. To purchase tickets online, readers can visit the specific venue’s website at vickerstheatre.com or boxfactoryforthearts.org.

Megan Burnett is the Theatre Program Director and Assistant Professor of Theatre at Bellarmine University in Louisville.  She has taught acting and voice for Folger Shakespeare Library, Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, University of Louisville, Eastern Kentucky University, Alice Lloyd College and Spalding University, organizers said.

Burnett will conduct a post-show discussion following each performance. For more information on Megan Burnett’s performances, readers can contact Judy Scully at jscully@luc.edu or 773-677-2528.