HOME | PROGRAM | ARTIST | WOMEN | PRESS | EVENTS | GALLERY | BOOKSHOP | LINKS | CONTACT

---

Below you will find news articles, press releases and letters about
Kate Campbell Stevenson and her one-women show

Now in its Tenth Anniversary Season
 

Rave Reviews!
What people have to say about WBTF

Recognition Letters
Various recognition letters for WBTF

One-Woman Show Steals ProMusica Arizona Spotlight
The Desert Advocate, November 17, 2004

ProMusica Seranades at Boulder Creek
The Foothills Focus, November 17, 2004

Rachel Carson's Legacy Honored at her Silver Spring Home
Montgomery County Sentinel, March 25, 2004

Women Can Make a Difference
Montgomery County Gazette, October 31, 2001

Anthem Visitor Produces Women in History Presentation
Canyon Country News, September 20, 2001

Lipstick ... Purse ... Valor!
The Arizona Republic, September 20, 2001

Students Learn History through the Hats of Kate Campbell Stevenson
The Press and Standard, February 6, 2001

Performer Revives Great Women for Middle School Girls
Carolina Morning News on the Web, January 31, 2001

The 500 Hats of Katte Campbell Stevenson
Montgomery Gazette, February 27, 1998

Show Taps Heroines of Past to Motivate Today's Women
Martinsville Bulletin, October 20, 1996

Many Roles for This Thespian
Montgomery Gazette, July 18, 1997

---

ONE-WOMAN SHOW STEALS PROMUSICA ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT
The Desert Advocate - Cave Creek, AZ
November 17, 2004
Geno Lawrenzi

ANTHEM-- Boulder Creek High School Performing Arts Center, ProMusica Arizona and a multi-faceted actress named Kate Campbell Stevenson put on a show Saturday night that Anthem and surrounding communities won't easily forget.

Stevenson, whose 25 years of experience in music, theater and education have made her comfortable with a live audience, stole the show with her Women: Back to the Future performance when she portrayed Abigail Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marian Anderson and Rachel Carson before a packed house.

But her artistic performance was matched by ProMusica Arizona Chorale and Orchestra as it performed show tunes, a Richard Rodgers medley, "King Herod's Song" from "Jesus Christ Superstar," tunes from Irving Berlin and a rousing patriatic finish featuring such stirring selections as "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again," "over There," "The Marine's Hymn" and "America the Beautiful."

Using 110 performers ranging in age from four to 74, the group showed community theater at its best, along with a few imperfections in this reviewer's opinion.

Director Kevin Kozacek apologized for the lighting and the lack of an orchestra pit. Personally, I would have liked to have seen more elaborate costuming instead of the white t-shirts and black slacks that occasionally gave the production a junior college look.

There is no question the audience appreciated the talent, both musically and vocally. They also liked the specialty performers like tap dancers Sue Koehl and Janne Maitem.

Stevenson, who has appeared in 30 Broadway musicals, including "Camelot," "My Fair Lady" and "The King and I," chose the "can do" theme to give life to four outstanding women whose lives changed the was Americans think about themselves.

In a personal message to the audience, Stevenson said, "(This Show) began in 1994 as a personal quest to inspire my own children and their peers to hold fast to their dreams and provide courageous role-models." She has played across the rural South, in fancy prep schools in Los Angels, county fairs, The National Theatre and the White House.

Changing on stage in full view of the audience, Stevenson portrayed Abigail Adams, the wife of John Quincy Adams who became First Lady of the United States; Eleanor Roosevelt, another First Lady who served as delegate to the United Nations; black opera singer Marian Anderson; and Rachel Carson, a scientist, environmentalist and author who wrote "Silent Spring."

Ticket Sales to the public and donations from patrons raised over $15,000 from Saturday's three performances. The funds will be used to buy portable choral risers, music and other needed equipment to help ProMusica Arizona put on future productions and to assist the Performing Arts Department at Boulder Creek High School. The evening show followed two earlier matinee performances.

Kozacek, president and founding director of the Anthem-based chorale and orchestra, said the organization is " always looking for dedicated member in the choir and orchestra." For more information or to become a sponsor or patron, call (623) 551 8327 or (623) 555-5045. The organization's website is http://www.promusicaaz.org.

---

PROMUSICA SERANADES AT BOULDER CREEK
The Foothills Focus - "Your North Valley News Source"
November 17, 2004
Front Page feature by Steele Coddington

ANTHEM- "We'll be loving you...always." That's how Saturday's audience responded to the November 13 opening night performance of Anthem's ProMusica Arizona Chorale and Orchestra at the Boulder Creek High School Performing Arts Center.

Kevin Kozacek, director, conducted the Orchestra and Chorale in a charming and lively medley of music and songs, (including "Always") from Broadway musicals and other long time American favorites. Audience appreciation for the entire performance, including the witty and clever presentation of Women: Back to the Future by distinguished performer Kate Campbell Stevenson, was demonstrated by many standing ovations. It was a wonderful opening night and day for the Chorale and Orchestra which featured over 110 performers from ages four through 74, with not an empty seat in the house.

---

RACHEL CARSON'S LEGACY HONORED AT HER SILVER SPRING HOME
Northwest Branch Trail Renamed The Rachel Carson Greenway
Montgomery County Sentinel
March 25, 2004
Brendan Armbruster, Staff Writer

Kate Campbell Stevenson in a dramatic portrayal of Rachel Carson
at the celebrated author's home in Silver Spring.
Photo by Normand A. Bernache

The spirit and Legacy of Rachel Carson was honored twice on Saturday. First, about 150 people were on hand as county officials renamed the Northwest Branch Trail Corridor the Rachel Carson Greenway.

And just an hour later, the Rachel Carson Council, an environmental advocacy group, held an open house in Carson's former home in Silver Spring where the famous author and biologist wrote "Silent Spring," her landmark study on the negative effects of pesticide use.

The Northwest Branch Trail Corrido, which runs from Prince George's county line north through Silver Spring and then on to the Patuxent River for a total of 22 miles, was well positioned to be renamed in honor of Carson, according to Lyn Coleman, trail planning supervisor for the Park and Planning Commission.

The trail is bracketed by Carson's house to the south and the Rachel Carson Conservation Park in Olney to the north.

"In 1998, we started to put together trail plans, because we had never had one," Coleman said. "We identified one of them, which we just called the Northwest Branch Corridor. But as we started to study it in detail and made decisions, we realized that we had a better name. It seemed like a natural fit."

Carson's house on Berwick Road in Quaint Acres is now owned by Diana Post, executive director of the Rachel Carson Council, and her husband Cliff Hall. Before she died, Post said Carson requested that a group be formed that would continue to study and educate people on pesticide use after her death.

The Rachel Carson Council was born soon after, and in 1996 it purchased the house from a sympathetic owner Julia Urick. Post said she and Urick have managed to keep the area surrounding the house as natural and unadorned as possible, in accordance with Carson's wishes.

"She wanted to provide for wildlife and keep part of the lot wild," Post said of Carson. "And we've kept it wild through the years, despite the surrounding development. There are no restricted areas. no flowerbeds. It's very natural looking.

Post said Carson was heavily involved in the house's design and room details. Of great importance to her was to allow as much sunlight in as possible from a large picture window which created a natural atmosphere.

"It has a spirit about it," Post said. "You look out the window and know that htis is where Rachel Carson sat with her adopted son, where she saw Orion constellation at night or where she watched the birds. It's kind of a sanctuary."

The open house also featured a performance by Kate Campbell Stevenson, who wrote a segment about Carson in her one woman musical show "Women: Back to the Future," about prominent women in American history.

Also in attendance was Dr. David Pimentel, president of the Rachel Carson Council and a renowned expert on pesticide use. Although his career preceded the publication of Silent Spring, Pimentel said "it's great inspiration to continue working in Rachel Carson's field."

Carson's house was built in 1957, but she only stayed there a short while; she succumbed to breast cancer in 1964. She began writing "Silent Spring" in 1958 and the seminal work was published in serial form in The New Yorker in 1962.

---

WOMEN CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Montgomery County Gazette
October 31, 2001
Terrie Heartley

Inspirational Actor's Performance at Blake 'Empowering,' Audience Members Say

Kate Campbell Stevenson asked her audience to dare to dream.

She gave them hope that they, too, can achieve their goals by portraying the lives of five women in history that overcame adversities to affect the lives of many Americans.

"I always say to my audience if Bessie Coleman can learn to fly, you have no excuse not to make your dreams come true," said Stevenson, a former teacher.

Coleman, a female black aviator, was portrayed along with Lucy Stone, Sacagawea, Abigail Adams and Silver Spring native Rachel Carson in Stevenson's one-woman performance, Women: Back to the Future, Friday at Blake High School.

Stevenson's presentation featured dramatic acting, singing and educating the audience about the lives of the women.

"As an educator, I saw how little there were of women in history books," said Stevenson, 47, of Silver Spring. "I wanted to rewrite women back into history books."

Audience members were impressed.

"Bessie Coleman seemed empowering," said Janelle Richards, a ninth-grader at Blake.

"She believed in what she wanted to be," said Ashley Willis, also a ninth-grader at Blake, about Coleman.

Several people said they were inspired by Coleman's story of courage and Rachel Carson's tale of a not-so-dynamic woman speaking before Congress to change the way Americans treated the environment.

"The show was very inspirational, especially the part on Rachel Carson. I was fighting hard not to cry," said June Cayne, a teacher at Kemp Mill Elementary School. "I feel like I'm taking something away from this that I'll use."

Stevenson has been performing this show since 1996. She created the performance as a way to address her children and their peers' apprehension to fully achieving their dreams.

"We need positive role models. We need to show our young people it's not necessarily the celebrities that are the best role models," Stevenson said. "Making a difference is not necessarily making a million dollars, but changing people's lives."

She selected women in her performance that would inspire and empower her audience.

"Women pull incredible inspiration from the performance, [because] women for the most part buy into society's subtle biases," Stevenson said. " [The performance is a] wake-up call especially to women to catch yourself and don't do that."

And several women said they felt empowered by her performance.

"[Afterwards] you really feel like 'hey, I can do it,' " Cayne said.

"It shows what the best of us can be," said Kathy McAdams of Silver Spring. "At the end ,you don't think you're nothing."

"I've seen it before, came back, and brought four eighth-graders and two friends," said Janice Moschetto, a teacher at White Oak Middle School. "I wanted my child to see it. I think it's a really good show for all young girls to see."

Others were inspired by Stevenson's ability to perform so many roles while remaining on the stage between acts. She changed her costumes or reapplied make-up in front of the crowd, while talking to the audience about the backgrounds of the women.

"How do I become a Kate Stevenson?" Cayne said. "She's an inspiration to all women."

"I sing and also like to act. She's given me thought on what I can become," said Anais Rodriguez, a ninth-grader at Blake who aspires to be an actress and singer like Stevenson.

A couple of men said they gained a deeper appreciation for women after seeing Stevenson's performance.

"For me, I always liked strong women...for the boys it's good to see strong women [too]," said Tim McAdams of Silver Spring. "It's good to show women who make contributions that are sometimes overlooked.

McAdams used the example of Abigail Adams' letters to her husband, John Adams, urging him to declare America an independent country.

"He would not have been what he was without her," McAdams said. "She was a successful businesswoman even without him."

And boys see their mothers in the strength and courage of the women Stevenson portrays.

"Young boys today appreciate it [the performance] more because they know how hard their mom works," Stevenson said. "[The boys say], 'I want my mom to get paid as much as anybody else doing the same job.' "

But Stevenson said the show was for everybody to learn to never give up on your dreams.

"You never stop living. There's always opportunity to make life better," Stevenson said.

---

ANTHEM VISITOR PRODUCES WOMEN IN HISTORY PRESENTATION
Canyon Country News
September 20, 2001
Rachelle Bump

Kate Campbell Stevenson has captivated audiences from Los Angeles to Washington with her one-woman musical production, Women: Back to the Future. Now Phoenix audiences and Greenway High School will reap the benefits.

This production portrays the struggles and victories of several American women role models through singing and acting. Stevenson says she believes the production's message serves as an inspiration to her audience.

"I use women in history as my inspiration, and I try to give that inspiration to my audience. There are so many powerful women stories we can learn from and use as the stepping stones to become stronger," she says.

The production takes place at the Greenway High School Auditorium September 20, 22, 28 and 29. Stevenson said she performed in Sun City three years ago and looks forward to returning to the Phoenix area.

"I am excited about doing Greenway because it's a win-win situation for everybody," she says. Many of the students from the school are participating in promoting this show, she says.

The Deca Club students at Greenway High School are designing the cover of her program and making flyers to hang around the school. Other students are using ticket sales to learn accounting. Student Council members and National Honor Society members will sell ads for the production and usher during the show. Profits from this event go directly to purchase audio/visual/computer equipment for the newly renovated multi-purpose room. All students and staff at Greenway High School use this room, and soon opens for public rental.

Stevenson says she is trying to make her performance as inclusive as possible.

"This is a wonderful opportunity. A sharing time for the school, the students and the community," she says.

Stevenson's sister, Connie Henry, lives in Anthem and is the event chair for Greenway High School Parent Action Club (PAC). Henry says she has been very busy the past few months organizing PR, contacting newspapers, radio and television to get the word out. She has also been coordinating volunteers from parents, staff and students to do various jobs. She says she has marketed the program to groups such as Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, retirement centers, colleges and other public schools. Henry says people from Sedona, Tucson, Mesa, Chandler, Paradise Valley, Anthem and Sun City have already bought tickets.

Stevenson is charging $10 per ticket, which Henry says is less than what the tickets normally cost.

"Kate's halo is glowing for doing this event for us at a fraction of the cost," Henry says. She says Target has been very supportive by giving a grant which will ensure that 400 at-risk kids will see the show.

"These two factors mean that every ticket sold will be basically pure profit. It's a great circle. People get a bargain to see a wonderful show plus learn something about fascinating women in American history and in the process help the school improve the facilities and gain another community asset," she says.

Stevenson says she entertains her audience with "innovative costume changes that create transitions between historical time periods." She has researched each character in great detail, enabling her to design and make authentic historic costumes to closely resemble each woman's appearance.

Stevenson says she features about five characters per show. The women she has portrayed include Abigail Adams, Sacagawea, Lucy Stone, Bessie Coleman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marion Anderson, Rachel Carson and Louis Arner Boyd. She says she will be adding three more this Fall. It is difficult to decide which one she enjoys representing the most, she says.

"I love all of them. It's impossible to pick one. Each story is wonderful. [They] each sing out to me a powerful message. Each lady's story is so inspiring to me."

Stevenson began this production in 1996 after spending 18 months developing the show. Since then, she has presented 350 performances in eight states connected with national and regional conventions and noted lecture series. She has also performed in public and private schools, kindergarten through college. Stevenson now travels all over the country and will begin an international showcase in January. She says she spends about five to six weeks per year traveling.

Stevenson combines over 20 years of professional artistic experience in music, theatre experience in music, theatre and education.

"I began singing about the time I could talk," she says. She came from a very musical family. Her father was a singer and pianist, and was her first voice teacher. Her sister explains, "We were raised in a small town called Ionia, Michigan, by a family who instilled in us the whole concept of personal "service," because individuals can make important contributions to making this world a better place. Kate does just that."

Stevenson says she studied singing privately in high school, and performed in high school drama productions.

Stevenson graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in education/fine arts, and attended Indiana University School of Music. She has starred in over 30 Broadway musicals in regional theatres throughout the United States.

Before she created Women: Back to the Future, Stevenson says, her friends urged her for years to put on a one-woman show. She made the decision to create the show when her daughter, Juliana, began to fall into what she called a "cultural phenomenon." She says her daughter began to live by the idea of "blending in" at school rather than "standing out. "No matter the circumstance, you can feel overwhelmed and pull back. This message is for everybody, no matter where you are in life," she says. "I try to present a program where we can see where some of the barriers are and break through them."

Stevenson says men, women, boys and girls all hold themselves back from being who they really are. "We are our own deterrent," she explains. There is no excuse for this, she says, and tries to encourage her audience to break through this concept through the inspirational stories of her characters.

Stevenson performs every aspect of the show, except for some prerecorded voices. She says she either talks to or sings with another recorded character's voice. The whole show is choreographed, and she simply pushes a button inside her costume to activate the voices. She writes all the music for her shows and 90 percent of the lyrics for her songs. Connie Henry sums up the show.

"Anyone who sees this show will have a fun theater experience. The music is beautiful. Kate's voice is gorgeous. The show is entertaining, enlightening and makes one think," she says.

For more information on show times and tickets, call Connie Henry at 623-915-8500 or 623-551-8327.

---

LIPSTICK ... PURSE ... VALOR!
The Arizona Republic
September 20, 2001
Kyle Lawson

Mother's Anger at Biases' Spurs Salute to History's Heroines

Reach Lawson at kyle.lawson@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8947.

Kate Campbell Stevenson is a woman of many "hats." Indeed, she is a mother, wife and a member of the United States work force, but she also is the women's rights activist Abigail Adams, the Indian maiden Sacagawea, the women's suffrage visionary Lucy Stone, and African-American aviator Bessie Coleman.

No, Ms. Stevenson does not have a multiple personality disorder: she has a vision to educate today's youth.

Several women of different generations, backgrounds, races and occupations came to life last week in Stevenson's one-woman program, Women: Back to the Future. This theatrical performance was performed at Hampton Street Auditorium and is geared to promote positive role models for today's youth, using historical women figures.

Stevenson's performances, for students in the Colleton School District, were sponsored by the Lowcountry Tech Prep Consortium.

Women: Back to the Future was conceived, written and performed by Stevenson, originally for her own children.

"My Children were my inspiration. I wanted to be a part of a program that I could actively participate in," Stevenson said. In addition to being an actress, she is an advocate and educator of women's acheivements.

"Women have been under-represented in history. Women were active figures in history all along," Stevenson said. "They are marvelous role models to young people, boys and girls, because they have overcome such large obstacles."

When talking to kids, Stevenson places much emphasis on the hard work her characters endured. "Everything is so instantaneous today. You push a button and it happens. Kids have to realize that anything of value is hard to achieve: it takes time and effort. Anything you obtain easily is not worth anything"

Expression and focus are qualities important to Kate Stevenson. She urges kids to write things down and to express their feelings on paper, because they are the ones that will make a difference later.

"One ordinary person can make a difference. It's not just the famous celebrities who make a difference, it's people who are working everyday," she said. " It's the cogs in the wheel that make the country go forward." Stevenson transforms auditoriums into classrooms around the country with her lessons. " Live theatre is such a strong teaching tool. It's a form of communication, because it takes energy from the audience to learn."

PERFORMER REVIVES GREAT WOMEN
FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS
Carolina Morning News on the Web
January 31, 2001
William Dean, Staff Writer

BLUFFTON: Tech Prep Consortium Hosts One-Woman Show
to Celebrate Carolina Careers Week

Lowcountry middle and high school students are traveling through time this week to hear a few words of wisdom from aviator Bessie Coleman, exploration guide Sacagawea and other famous women from the past.

Kate Campbell Stevenson, a performer from Washington, D.C., is visiting five schools in Beaufort, Jasper, Colleton and Hampton counties, where she is presenting her one-woman show, Women: Back to the Future. With monologues, songs and a series of costume changes, Stevenson portrays the women as role models for students.

"Woman in the past have always been problem-solvers," Stevenson said Monday before an audience of mostly girls at H.E. McCracken Middle School in Bluffton. "How successful you are at that skill of problem-solving will determine how successful you are in life."

She encouraged the seventh- and eighth-graders to take action in planning the careers of their choice, as Bessie Coleman did as the first black woman to become an aviator in the early 1920s. Coleman "shows us to look deep down inside ourselves and to overcome the barriers we have within ourselves," Stevenson said.

Coleman was the favorite character for Hilton Head Middle School students Nicole Josey, 14, and Miranda Collins, 13.

"She stood up for her rights being a woman," Nicole said.

Stevenson, who has been a performer for 25 years, was inspired six years ago to write her show to keep her own children from becoming complacent and passively accepting the status quo. Her goal was to convey the message to young people to believe in themselves, while creating a job for herself, she said.

"It's important to remind everybody, whatever they want to do, don't let anybody tell you what you can't do," Stevenson said.

Stevenson told the girls to look for role models who are teachers, doctors and other women around them who are making the world a better place. Though girls more often resist pursuing their dreams, it's a universal problem with both boys and girls, she said. Stevenson hopes the show relays to students that the instant gratification from watching TV, computing and playing Nintendo games is not how the real world works.

"You have to invest yourself," she said.

Hilton Head Middle School students Ashton Kelley and Hattie Keyes -- both 14 -- were encouraged by the message.

Hattie especially appreciated hearing "that we an have a say and we're not any less powerful than any other people," she said.

Women: Back to the Future was sponsored by the Lowcountry Tech Prep Consortium to celebrate South Carolina's Carolina Careers Week. In addition to introducing students to career options, it also served as a reminder to focus more on women in history for girls in school, Hilton Head Middle School science teacher Veronica Miller said.

"It's a very important thing that we single out these young ladies," she said. "They can go as far as they want to go."

Since her first performance in California, Stevenson has taken her show on the road to schools in Indiana, Wyoming and other states. On Friday, she will perform at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Lady's Island Middle School.

Kate Campbell Stevenson wants her audiences to realize their potential. In Women: Back to the Future," the 43-year-old Silver Spring actress and singer presents vignettes of women in history whose stories she believes are inspirational.

"These women overcame barriers . . .they found out what makes them feel alive and incorporated it into their lives," she says.

And that is precisely the example Stevenson wants to set in the one-woman show she has performed 125 times in the past two years, mostly in Mont-gomery County schools but also in her hometown, Ionia, Michigan, and in California where her twin sister lives.

A mother's anger fueled the creation of the original production. Upon observing her daughter Juliana, now 13, beginning "to hang back, not wanting to stick out" in fourth and fifth grade, Stevenson feared her being "absorbed into the norm."

"I knew I could talk until I was blue in the face," says Stevenson, who realized action was key to fighting cultural pressures and expectations for girls. So, for the next 18 months, Stevenson used her training and experience as actress, singer and educator to develop a show to frame her message.

Among Stevenson's exemplary women of history are Abigail Adams, women's rights advocate; Sacagawea, Native American guide who saved explorers Lewis and Clark; and Lucy Stone, abolitionist and suffragette.

Environmentalist and longtime Silver Spring resident Rachel Carson is the most recent addition. Concerned that a long stretch of Carson's western Pennsylvania "monotone might make kids snore," Stevenson opted to do the role a bit differently.

"Everything I sing is her emotions and thoughts," Stevenson explains.

She speaks Carson's words - testimony before the Senate on the dangers of pesticides - while a soundtrack with the voices of Carson's critics plays as background. (The sound comes from a remote-controlled, computer-driven mini CD player sewn into her costume.)

"Let the forest keep its voice/And make my weary heart rejoice," sings Stevenson as Carson. Stevenson's mentor, Martha Johns of Derwood, wrote the lyrics, and the pair composed the music together before bringing it for final orchestration to Debbie Wickes LaPuma, a Virginia composer and arranger.

Having tried out Carson's "pinnacle, poignant moments" during four performances for Los Angeles area students earlier this month, Stevenson plans to add the segment to her permanent repertoire.

"I try to capture the central characteristics that allow the women to overcome their problems or jump over the barriers to attain their goals," Stevenson says, citing the example of Sacagawea's curiosity and willingness to step out into the unknown.

Intent on developing a Hispanic role model to expand her range, Stevenson is researching the life of Eulalia Julian de Lopez, a powerful woman who helped settle a California mission. Lopez, with her "flair and love for life," seems to meet her criteria.

The women Stevenson portrays range in age from Sacagawea at 17 to Lucy Stone at 65. The aging process is part of the transition between characters she does on stage, changing costume, makeup and props while casually offering the audience some background information on her next persona.

In addition to creating the show and performing all its roles, she loads, sets up and unloads all her equipment - from costumes, wigs and eyeglasses to music stand, hall tree and sound equipment. She says there have been few snafus even though her checklist exists only in her head.

Even after so many performances, Stevenson says she has not tired of the show.

"Each time is different, new and challenging. I adapt the material to each audience and to the different physical settings."

She takes seriously her responsibility to present positive role models for her audience as well as for her own children. Her work, she believes, has set a good example for both Juliana and Owen, 11, who often act as her sounding boards.

"They see the creative process, they know that hard work is involved, and they see how excited I am about having this form of communication.

Kate Campbell Stevenson sees looking back to the past as a way of inspiring women of the future.

Stevenson, of Silver Spring, Maryland, will be presenting a group of historical women role models in a free one-woman musical show at 5 p.m., November 20, at Martinsville's First United Methodist Church.

She developed the show, Women: Back to the Future, in part as a means of encouraging her own daughter.

"I remember two years ago when my daughter was in the fifth grade. She was starting to pull back - not wanting to stick out. And I remember doing that as a child myself in middle school. I was determined I wasn't going to let this happen without making some kind of effort," Stevenson said.

The performer said she was alarmed to see girls who were afraid to stand out and make a difference even in the '90s, who thought they could not achieve as much as boys.

"I remember reading a report on how schools short-changed girls . . .what they go through. So I decided to use my background in education as well as theater and singing to send a universal message that no matter what age you are, you should write down your goals and not let anybody say you can't accomplish them," she said.

Stevenson said that she worry's that today's young people are accustomed to the instant gratification with such things as computers and television.

"They want immediate rewards. The message that comes across is wrong. Anything of value is going to take time and effort as well as personal growth to make it valuable," she said.

Stevenson predicted that today's young people will be changing careers four to seven times because of changing technology.

"That's going to require some real character. It takes courage to step out into the unknown. It takes risk-taking and the ability to be open to learn new things," she added.

Stevenson said she thinks today's women can look at the past to see how women overcame challenges and barriers and realize many of those same obstacles still exist but can be overcome with similar determination.

"These people (characters she presents) had very little resources and yet with creativity they found ways to be heard and to express themselves - to make a point and change the world," she said.

A singer and actress for 20 years, Stevenson researched her characters for a year before selecting women for the impact they had on history.

"I select a vignette from their lives and bring it to life in first person," she said, adding that the show includes dramatic monologues, music and poetry as well as costume and makeup changes for each character.

For example, she demonstrates how Abigail Adams advocated women's rights and started her own import/export business, and presents Bessie Coleman, the first American female pilot, and Nellie Bly, journalist and adventurer. She also portrays Sacagawea, a 17-year old Native American guide, who set out with her 2-month old baby on her back with Lewis and Clark in their famous expedition.

She helped them secure horses and trade with the Indians. She saved the map-making instruments when they overturned in the river and saved the expedition from starvation by digging gopher holes and raiding the stored roots," Stevenson said.

The actress explained that she selected strong women who challenged traditional expectations, and had an inspiring message to illustrate her belief that one person can make a difference.

"You don't have to be some great person to make your contribution. It's everyday things and everyday people that change the world," she said.

MANY ROLES FOR THIS THESPIAN
Montgomery Gazette, July 18, 1997
Joan Lautman, Staff Writer u Brian T. Schoeni, Photographer

KATE STEVENSON'S MULTI-FACETED ABILITIES ARE ALL ON SHOW