First Daughter Suite

Musical Numbers

Opening– Full Cast

Happy Pat– Pat Nixon, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Tricia Nixon, Hannah Nixon

Amy Carter’s Fabulous Dream Adventure– Amy Carter, Susan Ford, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter

Patti by the Pool– Patti Davis, Nancy Reagan, Anita Castelo

In the Deep Bosom of the Ocean Buried– Bar (Barbra Bush), Robin Bush, Laura Bush

Closing– Full Cast

Orchestra

Piano/Keyboard: Haidee Dollak

Auxiliary Musicians: Treasure Capers, Sabetha Hersini, Maddie Hewgley, Leilani Miranda, Samantha Probst, Lauren Tretheway

Director Notes

Michael John LaChiusa’s First Daughter Suite is described as a “historical fantasia” which explores the lives of the mothers and daughters of some of the most complicated and tumultuous presidencies of the late twentieth century.

LaChiusa’s words and music create a portrait of these historical figures as complicated, impolite, and flawed. The audience has a front row seat to LaChiusa’s imagined inner lives of these women and girls.

First Daughter Suite allows us to visit these characters’ dreams and nightmares. We witness the embodiment of what haunts them, and are swept up in the undercurrent of what appears to be the perfect wife, mother, and daughter.

Many of the characters are loosely connected by their “mother hunger,” a term coined by Kelly McDaniel. These daughters look to their mothers for guidance, and we can empathize with the outsized difficulty of the task of mothering under global scrutiny.

As they all lived in a pre-social media world, we don’t have an Instagram feed of perfectly curated images depicting how they wanted to be captured, their fleeting thoughts on Threads, or their fun TikTok dances or skits on vacation.

Instead, we are left with snapshots from the media, print publications, news interviews, and for some, more bold memoirs.

But once a paper doll comes to life, what will it do with its own free will?

By exploring their inner lives, we are confronted with the beauty and harrowing ugliness of their humanity. Little girls can be heroic and emulate the violence they hear about on the news. Wives can be their husband’s biggest cheerleaders and be completely unraveled by their actions. Mothers can be disappointed in their children and be complete failures to their children, leaving permanent emotional and physical scars.

When I began preparing to direct this production, my first read of the libretto left me appalled by the problematic ignorance and prejudice displayed by these characters. They wield their limited power carelessly and are Icarus-like in their desire to break out of the roles crafted by late twentieth-century society.

The women of these times understood that speaking their minds and participating in the political process could risk how their femininity was viewed by others. The goal was to be protected by these men who were voted to lead. And yet these presidents have fallen short, and the women are left to pick up the pieces or go down with the ship.

First Daughter Suite forces the audience to forgo propriety and take on the risky etiquette of talking politics in mixed company. My vision for the production is not only for these girls to be seen but also heard.

We often go to the theatre hoping for a bit of escape, to capture a heightened sense of living, emotion, and beauty. LaChiusa’s text demands that we see and hear the ugliness in equal measure.

In particular woman and girls are often silenced. I hope we can listen even if what they have to say isn’t what we want to hear.

And yet I hope we are willing to listen. We are allowed to reject their thoughts and opinions and criticize them. We are allowed to be offended by the views of these women and girls, but I believe there is power in listening, especially to the things we don’t want to hear.

Part of my story growing up and growing older is the heartbreaking experience of discovering the inner perspective of people I felt I was in alignment with, look up to or was rooting for, only to learn that I vehemently disagree with them or they don’t respect me because of my race, class, or gender.

My vision for this show was to confront the cracked porcelain of these characters. My goal was not to leave them broken or try to hide their flaws, but to present them like the art of kintsugi. Repairing pottery with this Japanese technique highlights its fissures with lacquer in gold, silver, or platinum; the cracks are not hidden but now visible.

In these turbulent times, I hope that we can challenge ourselves to resist turning away from one another when cracks are revealed, but turn towards one another and bear with one another in love. And be radical with our gentleness toward one another.

During our rehearsal process, we all woke up on a Saturday morning to find that we were once again at war with Iran. This news was deeply unsettling and immediately changed our perspective. Conflict with Iran is mentioned in the libretto many times, and now has a connection to our present circumstances.

Now that the horrors of war are present with us, we decided to present Amy’s dream (which turns nightmarish) with more whimsy and surprise.

As a person born in the 1980s, I’ve only known Barbara Bush as the “granite granny”. I was fascinated to see photos of her life during her youth and during the time when her daughter Robin was alive. It made me become curious about if Barbara, like me, as I get older continue to see myself as the way I feel and not always as I present. I decided to present Barbara as she looked during her days with her daughter Robin, instead of how she looked in 2003, as the show explores the day she spends time remembering the daughter she lost.

As a Director, I’ve enjoyed the challenge of wrestling with, listening to, and trying to empathize with these characters. To reveal their desires and present them as three-dimensional. My artistic mission in all my work is to reexamine embedded ideas. My goal is to ignite reconsideration and new understanding.

The most wonderful part of this experience is working with these talented performers. LaChiusa’s composition is technically difficult, not only in the subject matter but also in the musical structure. It’s been wonderful to see the cast grow in their artistry through the process. They were eager, curious, and willing to push themselves from day one of this rehearsal process.

I appreciate the difficult conversations with the cast, production team, and our dramaturg as we worked through the complicated nature of the material. It’s been a joy to listen to one another and work through it together with compassion, urgency, and thoughtfulness.

I am so proud of the work of the incredible students, and my fellow faculty and staff in our production of First Daughter Suite.

-Alexandra Joye Warren

Assistant Professor of Performing Arts

Director of First Daughter Suite

Bios