History
The Show
Virago! was created out of a multi-year research passion project about a historical figure who fought large-scale consolidation in the cattle industry on the American frontier. The heart of the show also comes from Chloe's personal experience in a ranching family where the primary ranchers were the women. The show seeks to highlight the way history often rhymes with itself, and how we can look to lessons of the past to find our way forward.
Research
Multiple sources were consulted, including books such as "The Great Cowboy Strike" by Mark A. Lause, articles such as "When Texas Cowboys Fought Private Property" by David Griscom, and historical documents including newspapers chronicled by the Library of Congress. Headlines and excerpts quoted in the show have been compiled and summarized from actual documents of the time. This show is a testament to the importance of learning our history and of making that history readily accessible.
Historical Acknowledgements
Virago! takes place just after the historic genocide and forced removal of Indigenous Peoples of North America from their land, and soon after the Civil War. While the show maintains a strict focus on one person's story, many others are interwoven with it and must be acknowledged. Furthermore, the musical influences of the show have deep roots in the traditions and styles developed by the survivors and descendants of American chattel slavery. The class warfare that Virago!'s main character fights against is intertwined with and made possible by these paired atrocities, and this remains the same today.
Above: An article from the Abbeville Press, May 25th 1892, details the bitter fight between the cattle barons - large, wealthy businessmen with great political influence - and the smaller ranchers who were dubbed ‘rustlers’, or cattle thieves, by those barons. Paper sourced from the Library of Congress. Bear in the lower-right corner unrelated.