Bloomers
by
William Allen

Males:  

Reverend Cole 30-40—A pompous, self-righteous zealot.  

Dexter Bloomer 30’s—Amelia’s supportive husband who expends a great amount of energy trying to understand his wife.  

A Man—plays many parts  

Aaron Stone 20’s—A drunken lout 

Females:  

Amelia Bloomer 20’s—30’3 A teetotaler who is drawn into the women’s rights movement.  

Elizabeth Cady Stanton 30’s—She is already an established suffragette who recruits Amelia.

Libby Miller 30’s— Elizabeth ’s eccentric cousin—the real inventor of the Bloomer costume.  

Abigail Stone 20’s—Aaron’s abused wife.  

Woman—plays many parts  

Set: open stage  

Synopsis:

Editor of The Lily, Amelia Bloomer declares her war on intemperance; but Elizabeth Cady Stanton has greater things in mind for her. Meanwhile, Elizabeth ’s cousin, Libby Miller, has just returned from Switzerland with a novel idea—pantaloons for women. The idea catches on and soon the entire nation is caught up in the Bloomer costume.  

But the Bloomers offer a hollow notoriety for Amelia. Soon she becomes a zealot for suffrage, temperance, free love, vegetarianism and the water cure; and her relationships with her husband, Dexter, and Elizabeth Stanton are strained.  

Eventually there is a parting of the ways as each woman follows her own conscience.