Harwood alum Shaina Taub takes home two Tony Awards for ‘Suffs’ musical
June 26, 2024 | By The Valley Reporter and Waterbury Roundabout Harwood Union High School alum and Waitsfield native Shaina Taub won two Tony Awards – Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score Written for the Theater – for “Suffs,” a musical about the women’s suffrage movement.
Waitsfield native Shaina Taub won Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. Image courtesy of “Suffs.”
The 77th annual Tony Awards were presented at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City on Sunday night, June 16.
“Suffs” earned a total of six nominations. The other four were for Best Musical, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, and Best Costume Design of a Musical.
In accepting the award for Best Book, Taub gave her home state a shout-out: “I grew up in Vermont watching the Tonys every year with my mom on TV and dreaming of being a part of this magical community. Thank you for letting me be part of it.”
Taub wrote the book, music, and lyrics for “Suffs” and the show is her Broadway acting debut. Taub plays Alice Paul, co-founder of the National Woman's Party which pushed for the 19th Constitutional Amendment rather than winning suffrage state by state. The party injected marches and demonstrations into the movement, resulting in the amendment that was ratified in 1920.
Dressed in a purple satin jumpsuit with gold buttons, two of the National Woman's Party's signature colors, Taub accepted the award for Best Score.
“My mentor, Elizabeth Swados, used to say I could run auctions because I talk so fast,” Taub said and thanked Swados, the late composer, writer and director who was one of her college teachers, and composer Jeanine Tesori, another mentor.
“And to all of the theater kids out there watching, especially the loud little girls: Go for it,” Taub said. “You can do it! You are powerful. You are valuable. You are strong. If you doubt yourself, it's OK. I doubt myself all the time, but you can do it. I am rooting for you.”
The musical’s co-producers are Hillary Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. The 2016 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate introduced the “Suffs” company during the awards ceremony where it performed the tune “Keep Marching” from the musical.
“I know a little bit about how hard it is to make change. And I’m extremely proud of this original American musical by Shaina Taub – now two-time Tony winner,” Clinton said. “Of course it is about some American originals, the suffragists who fought so valiantly for so long to give women in our country the right to vote.”
In accepting the Tony for Best Book of a Musical, Taub also connected the story of the suffragists to modern times and elections: “If you are inspired by the story of the Suffs, please make sure that you and everyone you know are registered to vote. And vote, vote, vote this fall as if your life depends on it – because it does!”
Writing on her Facebook page on June 22, the 2005 Harwood graduate said she was “still processing” her show’s Tony wins that had her both “gobsmacked” and “stupidly grateful” at the recent ceremony. “If I made history the other night, it’s because I stand on the shoulders of maestras who have lit the way for me, and I will do everything in my power to leave the light on for the next girl,” Taub writes.
She expanded on her message to girls coming up in the theater ranks behind her. “This is hard work, but we’re capable of it. Keep writing, keep singing, keep trying and failing, keep trying again, keep standing up for yourself, keep standing up for your friends, keep raising your voice for what you believe in, keep marching. Even when it feels impossible. Especially when it feels impossible,” she wrote. “You are up to the challenge, and I’m with you every step.”
Taub joins other Vermont Tony Award winners: Cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s “Fun Home” graphic memoir inspired the musical with the same title that won five Tonys in 2015; in 2019, “Hadestown” by Vermont singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell took home eight trophies.