Scene One: Suffragists gather at National Woman’s Party Headquarters to plan strategy for picketing President Wilson the next day. Newcomer Martha Foley is hesitant to join once she learns they will be arrested. Betty Gram counsels Martha Foley on how to make such a decision.
Scene Two: Suffragists prepare to picket; Martha Foley rushes in to join them. Katharine Morey and Mrs. Roewer voice concerns about getting past troops lining the streets to protect President Wilson. Alice Paul is determined to picket no matter what.
Scene Three: Suffragists picket the State House. The Police Commissioner threatens them with arrest, but Alice Paul coaches them to stand their ground. They are taken into custody. Betty Gram is the only one to resist arrest.
Scene Four: Suffragists refuse to give their names to the judge and plead not guilty. Judge finds them guilty of loitering and sentences them to a fine of $5.00 or 8 days in the Charles Street Jail.
Scene Five: Suffragists are rebuffed when they demand to be treated as political prisoners at the Charles Street Jail. Jail triggers Betty Gram’s memories of her traumatic incarceration at the Occoquan Workhouse for picketing the White House.
Scene Six: Martha Foley is furious when her father pays her fine and she is forced to leave jail. Suffragists complain to the Sheriff about jail conditions.
Scene Seven: Back home, Martha Foley reads out loud her written account of what happened after she left jail, along with her commentary about it.
Scene Eight: Katharine Morey protests vehemently to the Sheriff when her fine is paid by a mystery man. She is physically removed from jail.
Scene Nine: The remaining suffragists’ fines are also paid by the mystery person, except Mrs. Roewer, whose husband threatens legal action if she leaves jail before the end of her sentence.
Scene Ten: The freed suffragists serenade Mrs. Roewer from outside the Charles Street Jail with the suffragist song, “Alive Oh” and give her the welcome news that the Senate now has enough votes to pass the 19th Amendment. They have succeeded!
Scene Eleven: Nine days later. Suffragists are backstage before a ceremony honoring suffragists at the Wilbur Theater. They vent their frustration about how the Senate refused to vote on the 19th Amendment before adjourning. Alice Paul speaks the last line of the play, “We still have a lot of work to do,” and all the actors pick up signs about 2020 women’s rights, civil rights, and voting rights issues and hold them high while singing “Alive Oh.”