Photo by Spc. Chad Seibold/108th ADA PAO Kate Campbell Stevenson in costume as she performs Petticoats in Politic at Pope Theater for Women’s Equality Observance Month.

Kate Campbell Stevenson slowly walked onto the stage, as the guest speaker for Team Bragg’s Women’s Equality Day Observance at Pope Air Force Base Theater on Aug. 18, with an audience that was more than likely expecting just some simple acting from all the props strewn about the stage.

Music began to hum through the speakers and this seemingly ordinary woman became extraordinary when, without the aid of a microphone, she filled the theater with the sound of her singing.

Stevenson performed Petticoats in Politics, her newest production aimed at re-educating everyone “about the long struggle earlier generations of women endured to win the vote,” as she is quoted on her website katecampbellstevenson.com.
For an hour Stevenson sang, acted, talked, and moved the audience with depictions of Abigail Adams, first lady and early women’s rights activist, Rose Crabtree, council member of the 1920 All-Female Town Council of Jackson Hole, Wyo., Alice Paul, early 20th century suffragist and co-founder of the National Women’s Party, and Eleanor Roosevelt, “First Lady of the World”, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and co-author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Over the course of an hour, Stevenson played out through song and imitation, the 144 year struggle of women’s suffrage from the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the ratification of the 19th Amendment and then brought it to the present with the ongoing battle of equality.

“Stevenson’s performance was moving. We were truly blessed and enriched.” said Col. Christopher Spillman, the 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade commander.

Toward the end of her performance tears came to her eyes as she spoke of her sister who had been a ground breaker back in the 70’s as a woman in the military.

Stevenson’s performance is not just an exercise in educating; it is a display of passionate belief.

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