Broadway,
Television, and Film actress Elizabeth Perry
starring in her critically acclaimed one person show
The Life
and Loves of Elizabeth Cady Stanton
A funny and touching
play about the long, long, struggle beginning in 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton read the first woman's rights
protest to an audience gathered in Seneca Falls,most of them to jeer... As a journalist she used the pseudonym
'Sun Flower', mentored Susan B. Anthony, and formed a partnership that shook the nineteenth century!!
"Wife, mother, champion of woman's rights
Who dared to speak out for women when no one would!"
WATCH
THE 8 MINUTE SUNFLOWER VIDEO PROMO
A one-person play written and performed by Elizabeth Perry
directed by
Anita Khanzadian
Watch the Promo Now!
For Bookings: PHILIP
ROSE, 137 West 78th
Street - New York, NY 10023
(212) 877-5538 or fax: (212) 877-5641
Elizabeth Perry is
available to launch your special event with a dynamic and entertaining twenty minute excerpt from her full length
play which includes the famous "Declaration of Sentiments"
CONTACT ELIZABETH
PERRY:
I call my one-person play "Sun
Flower" because it was the pseudonym Elizabeth Cady Stanton used when she was a fledgling joumalist and perhaps
a bit shy in expressing her progressive ideas about a woman's place in society. At the time I sat down to write
"Sun Flower" Elizabeth Cady Stanton had been sadly overlooked. Her courage and determination had inspired
a century and a half of women to pursue not only suffrage but a broad spectrum of equal rights for themselves.
I felt strongly that an introduction to Elizabeth Cady Stanton's life would be an inspirational and illuminating
experience for a modern audience.
"Sun Flower" doesn't play up or down
to any level of sophistication. It's just a good story. In it I play twenty characters including Mrs. Stanton,
her busband, her family members, her friends, including her partner and prodigee Susan B. Anthony, as well as some
others who were not so friendly.
Elizabeth Cady married the famous abolitionist
Henry Brewster Stanton in 1840. An abolitionist herself, she was a loyal friend to many prominent activists of
the nineteenth century. In "Sun Flower" you will meet Emerson, Thoreau, Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott,
and Frederick Douglass, the great African-American orator and journalist.
"Sun Flower" explores Elizabeth Cady
Stanton's childhood, her love story, and the pursuasive wit and incisiveness that led to her national fame as a
journalist and activist. People from all economic and educational levels, people who vaguely recall their mothers'
struggles, people who are already dedicated fans, academics from diverse concentrations who may not have focused
on the reform movements of the nineteenth century, men and women of all ages ... leave with a more sympathetic
perspective of women.
I hope you will find an opportunity
to bring "Sun Flower" to your school or cultural center or your convention or anniversary celebration.
It gives me immense pleasure to introduce as many people as possible to Elizabeth Cady Stanton's courage and her
faith in the power of Truth. Elizabeth
Perry
In 1998 Elizabeth Perry gave
the Declaration of Sentiments in Seneca Falls before an enthusiastic crowd estimated at over 10,000. CNN featured
it with their report on Hillary Clinton's speech.
Although the day was steaming hot,
the crowds assembled in the Suffrage Park at Seneca Falls waited patiently, fanning themselves and saturating themselves
with bottled water. Whole families gathered there. One young mother breastfed her infant while awaiting the arrival
of Hillary Clinton (pictured left with Anna Roosevelt and Elizabeth Perry) who was concluding a tour of historic
sites, with a final stop at the most celebrated Seneca Falls. Here in Seneca Falls one hundred and fifty years
ago, Elizabeth Cady Stanton had elicited jeers and the ridicule of the press for her public declaration of the
rights of women. It was fitting that Elizabeth Perry whose growing reputation for her performance in her one-person
play "Sun Flower" should deliver that same declaration to open the ceremonies.
Elizabeth Perry, Performer Elizabeth Perry (Actor/Playwright) began her career with a Helen Hayes Award Scholarship to the American
Theatre Wing presented by Helen Hayes and Charles MacArthur. At a young age she appeared with Paul Muni and Ed
Begley in Inherit the
Wind, was Polly Peachum
in The Three Penny
Opera, created the
role of Catherine Howard in Royal
Gambit, and played
Allison in Look Back
in Anger, and Maggie
in Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof in summer stock
before going to Hollywood, where she starred in numerous TV classics such as Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and Outer Limits,
as well as in the West Coast premieres of The
Great God Brown, The Balcony, The Collection, and Touch
of the Poet. (pictured: Elizabeth Perry as Elizabeth Cady
Stanton.)
On her return to New
York, under the artistic direction of Ellis Rabb and Jack O'Brien, with the APA Phoenix Repertory at New York's
Lyceum Theatre and at the APA base in Ann Arbor, she played Lady Macbeth, The Player Queen in Hamlet, Eliante in The Misanthrope,Verenanda
in Chronicles of Hell, The Little Queen in The King Dies, and Woman in Beckett's Play.
On Broadway, Ms. Perry
played opposite George C. Scott in the hit revival of Present Laughter,
in 84Charing Cross Road,The
Women, and in The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940. Off-Broadway she played in Isn't it Romantic, A
Perfect Ganesh, The Chairs, and Fefu
and Her Friends, among
many other outstanding productions. Her regional credits include Painting Churches, The Subject Was Roses, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Farm,
Peer Gynt, Glass Menagerie, Steel Magnolias, and On
Golden Pond.
On television she
has played major roles on
Kate and Allie, Another World, As the World Turns, and was Michael Learned's best friend on
the series, Nurse. Ms. Perry is a well-known theatrical coach
and conducts workshops on playwrighting and musical theatre.
She is a winner of the Villager Award for her performance in "A Difficult Borning". She is co-founder with the late Robert Elston of the American Renaissance
Theater Company. 'Sun
Flower' debuted in
Mrs. Stanton's birthplace, Johnstown NY, has played in the Capitol Rotunda, the Senate Building, at Governor Pataki's
Summit for Young Women, at the Washington Arena's Old Vat Theatre, in New York at the Neighborhood Playhouse, the
Homegrown and Houseman Theatres, at the Celebration of Women's Rights in Seneca Falls, and at the invitation of
the White House for the Millennium Celebration in Washington, DC.
She has performed as Elizabeth Cady Stanton on CNN, CSPAN, CNBC, NYI, and NPR She has appeared in 'Sun Flower' from Palm Springs to Alabama. She has even played Carnegie Hall and Vegas!
Philip Rose (Ms.
Perry's manager/producer) made his Broadway producing debut with Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sidney Poitier which won the Drama
Critics Award. He also produced the film. He has been involved as director, producer and/or author of many Broadway
plays including The
Owl and the Pussycat ,
Broadway's first venture into non-traditional casting, Purlie Victorious, and Does
a Tiger Wear a Necktie?
with Al Pacino. Among his musical productions are Purlie for which he received three Tony's (director, producer,
and co-author) and Shenandoah starring John Cullum which received six Nominations
and two Tony Awards. He directed the TV production of Purlie, receiving the ACE and Silver Awards from the International
Film and TV Festival of New York. Mr. Rose was the Executive Producer of the Disney film, The Cemetery Club starring
Ellen Burstyn and the independent film starring F. Murray Abraham and Eric Roberts, By the Sword. He recently has been receiving rave reviews for his theatrical memoir published by Limelight
Editions, "You Can't Do that on Broadway! - Raisin in the Sun and other Theatrical Improbabilities'. a book "most memorable for his unflagging dedication to the causes
he has always believed in, so often reflected in the plays he produced." Recently he was honored at the Majestic
Theatre for his outstanding contributions to the American theatre and nontraditional casting
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born in 1815 and married a like mind, the abolitionist Henry Brewster Stanton, in 1841.
While raising seven children, she was a fledgling journalist for Amelia Bloomer's 'The Lily' under the pseudonym
"Sun Flower" and a full-fledged journalist under her own name for Horace Greeley's 'New York Tribune'.
While at the international abolitionist convention in London in 1841, Elizabeth was stunned that her fellow abolitionists
refused to allow women to speak, especially the most admired Lucretia Mott. There the two women formed a friendship
which led to Elizabeth's authoring and delivering The Declaration of (Women's) Sentiments', at the Seneca Falls
Convention in 1848. Elizabeth, her Cousin Libby Smith, and Amelia Bloomer united in popularizing women's trousers,
later called Bloomers. A mentor to Susan B. Anthony, the women formed a lasting partnership for the recognition
of women's rights, the consequence of which resonates into the twentieth century. She died in 1902 never having
achieved her dream of the vote for women. The nineteenth amendment granting women their inalienable right to vote
was finally ratified in 1920 by one crucial vote. A young Senator from Tennessee who was planning to vote otherwise
received a note from his mother which said, "Son, do the right thing."
Other
work by playwright Elizabeth Perry African-American Portrait Gallery
Polished Portraits
Playwright Elizabeth
Perry's masterful "African-American Portrait Gallery" is a warm welsome to...black history...heroes of
a past era are honored with a powerfult performance by award winning actor Larry Robinson. His portrayals are inspiring,
intelleigent and ignite like fireworks...
Acclaimed South Florida actor Larry Robinson is one busy man these days. Robinson stars in the one-man show "The
African American Portrait Gallery: Discovering Timeless Heroes". Starting with Martin Luther King Day, and
continuing through Black History month, he'll be performing nearly every day at universities, schools, libraries,
churches, and homeless centers from South Florida to Boston. He portrays several African American heroes who overcame
adversity and discrimination to make their mark on the world. The show is constantly evolving- new heroes under
consideration include the late great actor and activist Ozzie Davis and the Tuskegee Airmen.
Through Robinson's portrayal of Bill Carver, the fictitious great-great-great grand nephew of George Washington
Carver, the audience is transported through time and treated to a lively, interactive exchange with notable figures
in history. This season's show brings to life the stories of singer-activist Paul Robeson, entrepreneur/inventor
Garrett Morgan, abolitionist/ author/statesman Fredrick Douglass and features the poetry of Langston Hughes.
Pictured above: Larry Robinson
and Elizabeth Perry
The show, which debuted in February 2004, was written and directed by Elizabeth Perry especially for award winning
actor Robinson, whose deep melodic voice is reminiscent of James Earl Jones. The play reaches across ethnic and
demographic lines to delight and inform audiences from school-age children through adults. Robinson has played
to enthusiastic audiences of more than 12,000, in four states. Corporations and foundations sponsor public performances,
which are offered free of charge to the community.
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
Sun Flower' is
a two act play with a ten minute intermission. It can, however, be presented very successfully in a one act, one
hour version. In addition, Elizabeth Perry is available to launch your special event with a dynamic and entertaining
twenty minute excerpt from her full length play which includes the famous 'Declaration of Sentiments'
Judy Kaplan, Organizer for "Women Speak Out Now" event at Florida Atlantic University.
Your performance was wonderful. You managed to play so many characters and yet, as a viewer, I had no trouble knowing
who was speaking! Your presentation really set the stage for the event. Thank you so much."
Gonzalee Ford, President
of SPBC Chapter of NOW
"Elizabeth Perry's performance of Elizabeth Cady Stanton brought tears to my eyes and really fired me up for
the work we all have ahead of us..."
Ann E. W. Stone, National Chairman, Republicans for Choice "Your
performance in Sun Flower took my breath away. I felt like I had a front row seat watching history as it unfolded.
In fact I enjoyed it so much I have now seen it at least 6 or 7 times and each time I am amazed that I notice something
new that I missed the time before! Thank you for creating this piece about this revolutionary woman whose courage
and vision not only shook up the 19th century but shaped the future of the 20th and 21st as well." Thank you, Lynne and Dick Ms. Perry would like
to acknowledge with special thanks her friends and colleagues, Lynne Stuart and Richard Horner who first brought
Elizabeth Cady Stanton to her attention. Lynne said "Do you know who Elizabeth Cady Stanton is?" and
I answered like many of you, "Not really, but the name sounds familiar". My friends proceeded to tell
me all about her and her spectacular place in American history.
For Bookings:
PHILIP ROSE
137 West 78th Street
New York, NY 10023
(212) 877-5538 or fax: (212) 877-5641
"Eloquent
... remarkably contemporary ... particularly moving" New York Today
"Riveting
- Elegant - insightful - delightful ... with Emerson, Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth ... an odyssey.
. . "
- Arts and Leisure, Palm Springs
After the debut of 'Sun Flower' in
Elizabeth Cady Stanton's birthplace, Johnstown, NY
the Gloverstown paper wrote:
"Elizabeth Perry shines as Elizabeth Cady Stanton...
An Amazing and expressive performance . . .
Perry makes the history books come alive." The Leader-Herald, Gloversville, NY
"A bravura performance ... Perry infuses
her heroine withexuberance, intelligence, wit, and vulnerability . . ."
-The Washington Post "
"Perry the researcher has done her
homework
carefully and thoroughly...
A warm human portrayal... a tribute not
only to Stanton,
but to the actress herself."
Back Stage, NY
"Play Captures essence of the suffrage
movement...
A labor of love and Vision ...
Elizabeth Cady Stanton would have been thrilled."
The Recorder, Amsterdam, NY
Elizabeth Perry studied
at the Rhode Island School of Design, The New School, at UCLA, and privately with Arnold Shiffrin and Greg Flinn.
She has had two one person shows at the Tiglietto Gallery in Kent, Ct, and has been a prize winner at the Broward
Art Guild, Artserve, and the Glass Gallery in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Her history painting, "Nine Eleven"
is on permanent exhibition at the City Hall in Pembroke Pines. She is also a produced playwright and has acted
extensively on Broadway. She has toured America with her one person play on the suffragist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and has recently been concentrating joyfully on painting.
CONTACT ELIZABETH
"Courage"
- the historical series
MOZART ON THE MOON – First in the series, 'Courage', this 4'X5'
oil on canvas commemorates the 1969 landing of the astronauts on the rocky surface of the moon and leaves behind
a phantom harpsichordist. (privately owned)
NINE/ELEVEN – Second in the series, ‘Courage’, this 4'X5'
oil on canvas is a tribute to the courage of the victims who in the final exercise of life reached out to others,
transforming tragedy to the perfection of the human soul.
"Nine Eleven" is presently on loan to the
City of Pembroke Pines and is displayed in theGlass Gallery of the Pembroke Pines City Hall, Florida - The Commissioners'
Meeting Room
ELIZABETH CADY
STANTON DRAFTING THE DECLARATION OF WOMAN’S SENTIMENTS, 1848
Third in the series, ‘Courage’,this 3'X4' oil on
canvas honors the unerring contribution of American women to the growth of our society despite total disfranchisement
from 1776 to 1920. Ms. Perry's play, “Sun Flower” based on the life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton has toured America
and been featured on NPR and CSPAN. Ms. Perry was specially invited to perform her one woman play at the president's
millenium celebration in Washington, DC.
Zoom In of Elizabeth Cady Stanton painting
THE LONG MARCH
– Fourth in the series
'Courage', this 3'X4' oil on canvas was inspired by Jean Batiste Carpeaux's 1868 sculpture, “Pourquoi naite esclave?”
(Why born slave?) which is in the Hirschorn Museum in Washington, DC. It depicts the African/American journey from
the cotton fields to Martin Luther Kings Freedom march to Selma, Alabama in 1965 as well as the aftermath of the
Civil War in Charleston, South Carolina. Ms. Perry's one man play, “The African American Portrait Gallery” is presently
touring South Florida."
THE LONG MARCH ZOOM 1
THE LONG MARCH ZOOM 2
THE LONG MARCH ZOOM 3
THE KINDERTRANSPORT
Germany, 1938-39
Fifth in Perry's Courage
Series. With the destruction of Jewish synagogues and property and Jews being taken to the camps, desperate parents
sent their children to England for safety. Very few of the children ever saw their parents again.
Oil on canvas -
5 ft X 4 ft
THE KINDERTRANSPORT Zoom1
THE KINDERTRANSPORT
Zoom 2
THE KINDERTRANSPORT Zoom 3
THE KINDERTRANSPORT Zoom 4
Aside from her Historical series 'Courage' featured above, Elizabeth accepts commissions
for oil portraits of which there are samples below.
If you are interested in purchasing any of the paintings you
see on this site or giclee copies of them, or if you are desirous of commissioning an original oil portrait, you
may contact Elizabeth at her email address. She can fulfill your request for any size painting starting at 8"X10"
at $300. Perhaps you have an heirloom photo, a favorite picture of your pet, photos of children and other family
members. Any request will be considered. An oil portrait is not only a deeply personal gift, but a treasure to
be handed down to succeeding generations.
Live modeling session in workshop.
Painting entitled "Seaman" -16" X 20" - "O7
"Mary on Hollywood
Beach" -- oil on canvas 9" 12" -- 2009
"Nerissa with Flowers in the Ruins of Charleston"
- 16" X 20" - 07
"Broadway Actress in the Tropics - Ruby
in her 80's" - 16"X 20" - 07
"Marsha and Gomez at Tea" - 16" X
20" - 09
"David at Work" - 16" X 20" -
07
"Howey, the Mayor of Maple Grove"
- 2008
"Annette holding Gibran" - 18"X24"
oil on canvas "06
"Camilla" - watercolor on paper- 14"X20"
- 07
"Heather with Little Katherine"
- 8"X10"- oil on canvas 2009
FLOWERS "All Flower paintings,
oil on canvas, 8"X10" -
Giclees available on stretched canvas, enhanced and signed by the artist. $45.00"
African-American Portrait Gallery
