Powerhouse—Live Radio Play Event—2026
July 24-26, 2026 Season 2 Presentation, Powerhouse, Poughkeepsie, NY
Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College
Producing Directors Ed Cheetham and Michael Sheehan and The Muse Project present
A Simple Herstory — Margaret Chase Smith — Ep. Trunkless Legs of Stone
Series Created by Jocelyn Kuritsky; Episode Written and Developed by Jonathan A. Goldberg; Episode Consulting Producers: Donya K. Washington, Jenny Turner Hall; Episode Directed by Meghan Finn
w/ Cecil Baldwin, Jake Hart, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Serenity Mariana, Jennifer Van Dyck
Production Associate & Stage Manager: Grace Flavien; Associate Producer: Alex Tobey
Original Series Executive Producers — Jocelyn Kuritsky, Jonathan A. Goldberg, Jenny Turner Hall, Donya K. Washington, Jane Shaw
Producing Directors Ed Cheetham and Michael Sheehan and The Muse Project present
A Simple Herstory — Margaret Chase Smith — Ep. Trunkless Legs of Stone
Series Created by Jocelyn Kuritsky; Episode Written and Developed by Jonathan A. Goldberg; Episode Consulting Producers: Donya K. Washington, Jenny Turner Hall; Episode Directed by Meghan Finn
w/ Cecil Baldwin, Jake Hart, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Serenity Mariana, Jennifer Van Dyck
Production Associate & Stage Manager: Grace Flavien; Associate Producer: Alex Tobey
Original Series Executive Producers — Jocelyn Kuritsky, Jonathan A. Goldberg, Jenny Turner Hall, Donya K. Washington, Jane Shaw
About A Simple Herstory + Trunkless Legs of Stone @ Powerhouse
Returning for a rare third residency at Powerhouse, A Simple Herstory is the acclaimed genre-blurring performance project exploring the more than 100 women who have run for President of the United States. This newest installment returns to Margaret Chase Smith and the volatile political climate surrounding mid-20th century Republican Party politics, tracing her evolving political identity amid shifting pressures of ideology, public expectation, and personal conviction. At once incisive and irreverent, searingly serious and sharply comic, A Simple Herstory offers the latest installment of the raucously funny and thought-provoking serialized podcast.
Returning for a rare third residency at Powerhouse, A Simple Herstory is the acclaimed genre-blurring performance project exploring the more than 100 women who have run for President of the United States. This newest installment returns to Margaret Chase Smith and the volatile political climate surrounding mid-20th century Republican Party politics, tracing her evolving political identity amid shifting pressures of ideology, public expectation, and personal conviction. At once incisive and irreverent, searingly serious and sharply comic, A Simple Herstory offers the latest installment of the raucously funny and thought-provoking serialized podcast.
From Trunkless Legs of Stone, w/ Margaret Chase Smith (MCS) & Linda
MCS: So many men get jealous. But then again so many girls now want to blame men for all their trouble.
LINDA: Men can be trouble.
MCS: Men helped me plenty. Men hurt me plenty. But there is no cruelty like that of a successful woman.
LINDA: I don’t know.
MCS: At the convention to renominate Eisenhower. I was supposed to speak. But. I had to tend to my mother who was quite sick. I let them know I would be interested in replacing Nixon. But Clare Boothe Luce who had on several occasions opined our Congressional sisterhood and yet was quick to suck up any column inches or jump in front of any camera that would have her, told the convention that I was not interested. She pretended to read a statement from me saying I supported the Nixon pick.
LINDA: Why?
MCS: Why indeed.
LINDA: Is that why you don’t support feminism?
MCS: Support? I helped with the ERA, I helped get women into military positions. My own achievements helped open the doors. Does that need some label? Some movement? Everything is a. This radical sect, these revolutionaries, Marxists, no I have no interest in that.
LINDA: I thought you said, before, in the car, that they offered you the vice presidency and you turned it down.
MCS: I did.
LINDA: But then Clare Boothe Luce stopped you from getting it?
MCS: It’s not. What are you getting at?
LINDA: I’m only trying to--
MCS: When I tell you something that is it. That’s what happened.
(Written by Jonathan A. Goldberg, Copyright ©2020-2026, All Rights Reserved)
LINDA: Men can be trouble.
MCS: Men helped me plenty. Men hurt me plenty. But there is no cruelty like that of a successful woman.
LINDA: I don’t know.
MCS: At the convention to renominate Eisenhower. I was supposed to speak. But. I had to tend to my mother who was quite sick. I let them know I would be interested in replacing Nixon. But Clare Boothe Luce who had on several occasions opined our Congressional sisterhood and yet was quick to suck up any column inches or jump in front of any camera that would have her, told the convention that I was not interested. She pretended to read a statement from me saying I supported the Nixon pick.
LINDA: Why?
MCS: Why indeed.
LINDA: Is that why you don’t support feminism?
MCS: Support? I helped with the ERA, I helped get women into military positions. My own achievements helped open the doors. Does that need some label? Some movement? Everything is a. This radical sect, these revolutionaries, Marxists, no I have no interest in that.
LINDA: I thought you said, before, in the car, that they offered you the vice presidency and you turned it down.
MCS: I did.
LINDA: But then Clare Boothe Luce stopped you from getting it?
MCS: It’s not. What are you getting at?
LINDA: I’m only trying to--
MCS: When I tell you something that is it. That’s what happened.
(Written by Jonathan A. Goldberg, Copyright ©2020-2026, All Rights Reserved)
