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Directed by Sarah Rodgers and starring Leanna Brodie and Sarah Louise Turner as Harris and Miller, respectively, the play is a story about relationships, partnerships and support, and of course human rights and equality.

“They are are so incredibly inspiring,” said Stubbs about the two women. “They were battling issues that are still going on today. There is such a small percentage of women in any vocation that are rising to the top,” added Stubbs. “It is a story of two women finding their way in a man’s world, essentially a world unused to women in authority and finding their way to one another and friendship — and finding the courage to stay with it. It’s about women on the edges too.”

Reading this, Vancouver theatregoers may find this story familiar and correctly so. Back in 2012 Firehall mounted Kid Gloves by Stubbs. That play also focused on Harris and Miller, but it fell flat.

Despite the huge letdown — along with plenty of self-loathing and second-guessing — Stubbs finally decided that this was too important a story to lock away.

“It was huge disappointment for me and the Firehall, and we all felt responsible in our own ways,” said Stubbs, who feels the play was rushed to the stage. “I wondered, ‘Should I be doing this,? then I thought, ‘Nuts to that,’ there is a really great story here. It is based on some amazing women who are integral to our history — women very few people know about. I just thought the story is worth it. The play is worth it. So I decided to tackle it again.”

So tackle it, she did. Rewritten, it got workshopped in Calgary and Vancouver before getting a slot at this past fall’s Fringe.

It was a Pick of the Fringe and played to soldout houses.

That success calmed Stubbs’ nerves and solidified the play’s future.

“It felt huge to me,” said Stubbs about the play’s Fringe experience. “I feel like that giant stone has been lifted from my shoulders.”

dgee@postmedia.com

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