“Fossenvue” a staged reading by Chris Woodworth at Caywood Point

New York, Spring 2024— On Saturday, May 11 at 2:00pm, Chris Woodworth is bringing “Fossenvue,” a staged reading to Caywood Point.

For several decades Geneva suffragists Elizabeth Smith Miller and Anne Fitzhugh Miller, and many of their friends gathered on the shore of Seneca Lake at a summer camp they called “Fossenvue.” Swimming, singing, writing, and suffrage strategizing filled their days and nights at Caywood Point.

Inspired by research conducted at Historic Geneva and in the Library of Congress NAWSA digital collections, as well as site visits to “Queen’s Castle,” playwright Chris Woodworth weaves together past and present. The play imagines the early days of Fossenvue and raises difficult questions about the legacies of race and suffrage activism today. How do we reckon with the echoes and reverberations of the predominantly white women’s suffrage movement in the present? How do we acknowledge the harms of the past without denying or whitewashing? How do we grapple with these thorny questions while navigating the loving and tumultuous personal landscapes of families? At its core, Fossenvue is a play about mothers and daughters.

Logistics:  The staged reading will occur in front of the Queen’s Castle (aka Fossenuve) which is located on the shore of Seneca Lake at Caywood Point. Access to the point by trail is a 1/3 mile hike on a graveled path. Slopes exceed 20% and it is physically demanding. Please bring your own chair.

Alternative transportation (via pontoon boat) will be offered departing from Smith Memorial Park in the Town of Hector.  Reservations must be made by April 26 for pontoon transport (limit of 18 people). 

To make a reservation, please contact the Hector Ranger District by calling 607-546-4470.