Director’s Note for Eleanor, by Christine Kahane

The Equal Rights Amendment, Commission on the Status of Women, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations, the Commission on Human Rights, are all institutions Eleanor Roosevelt worked in her lifelong service to humanity. Child welfare, racial equality, African-American youth welfare, veteran affairs, and housing reform, were of particular interest. 

While she stood up against the patriarchy of her time, she was also a beacon for women’s independence and sovereignty. She spoke out for communities who had no voice of their own at a time when it was not only political suicide but inconceivable for a woman to do so. The play sheds light on her staggering conflicts with FDR, her deep love for her family and her ribald distaste of the Roosevelt clan. 

She has left an indelible mark on the evolution of American society, carving out such an important record as first lady, one against which all her successors to this day, are judged to be true stewards of the role.

In Mark St. Germain’s one-woman tour-de-force, Eleanor’s inner life and often torment is revealed. We learn she married her cousin, loved a woman when it was forbidden, worked to conceal FDR’s physical limitations, and was tireless in her fight against the patriarchal leadership she found repressive and marginalizing. 

There is a challenge in the question: how do we bring an icon of Eleanor Roosevelt’s stature to an intimate and vulnerable place so an audience can recall her historical significance through the lens of her humanity and their own lived experience? 

The story explores the public and private personas of her flaws and frailties, her often excruciating loneliness. What was it that drove her? What captivated her soul to fight against injustices, and how did she overcome the intimate betrayals of nearly everyone closest to her? 

At the play’s end, Eleanor removes her wedding ring and places it on a bench. Then she says, “I’m coming, Franklin.” In mounting this production, I moved the story to emancipate Eleanor from the patriarchal yoke she struggled against, and say simply, “I’m coming”, referring to her great lifelong love with Lorena Hickok, Hick as she was known to Eleanor.

Eleanor’s simple credo comes to light as she reflects, “It’s a brave thing to be an individual and sometimes a lonely thing. Happiness is not a goal—it is the gift of a life well-lived.” 

-Christine Kahane, Director

(All images are from Christine’s storyboards.)