A Tale of Two Buttons was a play that had been festering itself in my mind for many months before I wrote it. For a long time I had one line written in my head that I knew had a story. It was “I am infatuated with buttons.”
For months, I had no idea what the story was, just that it involved buttons. After sleeping on it for an absurd amount of time, I knew it would be in my usual style of feminist propaganda and soon arose this idea of the relationship of two sisters. Inspired by Kristina Leach, I wanted to play with their perspectives and how they see things differently through their eyes and decided to write one act in one sister Louise’s perspective, and the second in the other sister Kate’s perspective.
I wrote this play to showcase women. To showcase different kinds of women and the obstacles women have had to face throughout history. Although this show takes place in the lead-up and aftermath of WWII, the experiences these women face are unfortunately still prevalent in today's society. As a majority of Americans don't know, the Equal Rights Amendment (which codifies that women are equal in the eyes of the law) has yet to be passed in the United States of America. I write stories like this to bring awareness and to empower everyone to take action.
This show is an ode to women. And buttons.
- Sarah Lina Sparks
(A special thanks to the Stevens family for letting us rehearse in their home.)
Trigger warning: Mature language, Sexual Assault, Violence
