Back in 2025, Tony Award-winning artist Shaina Taub took the stage at the International Thespian Festival (ITF) for a surprise announcement that ten schools were set to receive production grants to stage the acclaimed musical Suffs. A year later, 12 schools received The Young Are at the Gates Production Grant, introducing communities and Thespians to a groundbreaking production focused on the women’s suffrage movement that is as timely now as it ever has been.
One of those schools was Dublin Scioto High School, and their unique take built community among educators and programs across the school, creating a production that not only empowered students to take the lead, but also built an immersive experience that gave audiences the context and education needed to better understand the importance of the movement.
ETF sat down with Dr. Patricia J. Santanello, Director of Theatre at the school, to dive into the production, the process, and the lasting impact it will have.
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A Timely Story & Its Impact on Thespians
Suffs tells the story of the activists who fought for the right to vote, while also capturing the tension, persistence, and collective effort behind lasting change. For Santanello, that sense of momentum and unfinished work made the show especially resonant.
“This is the perfect time in our history to be doing Suffs,” she said. “You can’t just put things down and go, ‘OK, we’re finished now.’ It’s a continuing fight.”
That idea became even more immediate during rehearsals, as current events gave students a more personal lens through which to understand the show. Santanello shared that concerns around ICE activity in the Columbus area deeply affected some students in the cast, bringing the show’s themes closer to home and making them feel even more urgent.
“The kids looked at me and said this musical is so important to be doing right now. It matters so much,” she said. “I think it infused it with that little extra bit of heart that they really understood the stakes for the women in the story, for people now, for women now, for everyone now. That it’s a universal story of struggle for basic human rights and how important that is.”
What might have remained a historical story quickly became something much more present-tense. Students were not just learning about a movement from the past. They were recognizing how the show’s themes—advocacy, resistance, solidarity, and the fight for basic rights—still show up in their own lives and communities
The Power of Community Collaboration
One of the clearest reflections of Suffs at Dublin Scioto was the way the production itself was built. Rather than treating the show as a standalone theatre event, Santanello and her students approached it through collaboration, drawing on relationships that had already taken shape across the school.
That included an ongoing partnership with an AP American Studies teacher, whose students had supported past productions with historical materials and visual displays. Over time, what began as a smaller educational tie-in evolved into something much more ambitious, and with this production, that collaborative model felt especially fitting.
What started as a simple idea in earlier years grew into an immersive lobby experience that helped audiences engage more deeply with the women’s suffrage movement and the story unfolding onstage.
“It started simply with them saying, ‘Hey, can we do posters?’” Santanello said. “And they were incredible. So, you know, I think you can start simply. Talk to another teacher. Talk to your history teacher [or any] teacher you want to get involved.”
That mindset has helped the school continue building connections beyond the theatre classroom. Santanello pointed to past productions that brought in science teachers, AP art students, engineering classes, and maker space projects, all with the goal of helping students see how theatre can connect to nearly every part of school life.
Building Context Through Immersion
By the time Suffs opened, that spirit of collaboration had transformed the lobby into an extension of the production itself, filled with historical materials, student interaction, and added context for a movement many audience members may not have known in depth.
“Every inch… of the walls was covered,” Santanello said. “Students were there to talk about whatever their topic was.”
For Santanello, that context was essential. “I definitely think it adds a whole new layer to the experience of seeing the show because it’s not an area of history that many people are familiar with other than, oh, there were these suffragettes … and they got the right to vote and everybody lived happily ever after. Amen. One page in the textbook.”
“When you really look at the history and who the women were and what they did and how they did it, that’s a whole other layer to the watching, to really understanding what it is you’re seeing and why it’s significant,” she added.
The display gave audiences a fuller understanding of the history behind the musical while giving students a more active role in shaping how the story was received. That ownership was a key part of what made the collaboration work.
“A lot of times when you give kids a lot of buy in and ownership in a program, it’s a game changer,” Santanello said. “They feel they have ownership and they have something to share with the younger students in the program, kind of in a mentor, mentee kind of way.”
A Grant That Extended Beyond the Stage
For Dublin Scioto, The Young Are at the Gates Production Grant did more than help bring Suffs to the stage. It made it possible to continue building a culture that gave students the chance to engage deeply with the material, collaborate across disciplines, and bring the broader community into the experience.
For Santanello, the impact was practical as well as educational.
“To be able to do that level of a show and have the rights paid for us made such a huge difference,” Santanello said. “Costuming is very intense for it. There are just some things that you need to have that cost money. So it was really a game changer for us.”
One especially meaningful moment came when members of the League of Women Voters attended the production. For Santanello, it was the kind of full-circle connection that made the show’s impact feel even more immediate. “Carrie Chapman Catt started the League of Women Voters, and this woman from the League of Women Voters was so excited about the show,” Santanello said. “She sent flowers to my kids. She said, ‘I just had to do something.’”
That may be the lasting power of this grant. It gave Dublin Scioto the resources to stage an important musical, but just as importantly, it gave students the chance to lead. And if the experience left them with anything, it was a clearer understanding that history is not something they only study. It is something they can help shape.