![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Clareann-Despain-Powerstories.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMargaret Chase Smith, a Republican senator from Maine, made history in 1950 by giving a speech in front of Congress condemning the then-current investigation into \u201cun-American activities,\u201d in the form of Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R \u2013 Wisconsin) and his bullying hunt for Communists.<\/p>\n
By hurling accusations, often without evidence, that American society, and government, had been infiltrated and subverted, McCarthy had produced an atmosphere of fear and distrust.<\/p>\n
Smith was the first to level public criticism of McCarthy\u2019s \u201cRed Scare\u201d tactics. In her speech, the \u201cDeclaration of Conscience,\u201d she gave voice to what others had been thinking:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that it is high time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech, but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also noted: \u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny \u2014 fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Clareann Despain. Photo provided.<\/p>\n
Powerstories Theatre Executive Artistic Director Clareann Despain hears the footfalls of history in current American politics, and that\u2019s why the company is producing Joe DiPietro\u2019s play Conscience this weekend, at Stageworks in Tampa.<\/p>\n
Conscience is the story of Margaret Chase Smith and her defining historical moment of June 1, 1950. It\u2019s being presented as a staged reading, in that the staging will be limited, and the actors will have scripts in hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur staged readings,\u201d Despain says, \u201care designed to allow us to put something up quickly that we think is of vital importance for the community to think about, and talk about.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat conclusions the audience wants to draw about particular parallels are entirely up to them. But we certainly felt that this had a really important message for right now. And it is most assuredly not a mistake that the League of Women Voters will be in the lobby doing voter registration at every performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all in line with the 26-year-old Powerstories company\u2019s mission statement: To tell tales of powerful, inspirational and influential women. \u201cMargaret Chase Smith spoke truth to power, in a way that continues to echo today,\u201d Despain says.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoe McCarthy was very bombastic and loud,\u201d relates actress Roxanne Fay, who\u2019ll portray Smith. \u201cHe was the loudest voice in the room. And she was really quiet \u2013 her approach was always very low-key.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I thought, no wonder we don\u2019t remember her, and we remember Joe McCarthy. He would have driven over her like a truck. And he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCarthy wasn\u2019t censured by the Senate until 1954, when he began sniffing around the American armed forces for \u201cCommies.\u201d That\u2019s when the tide really turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t look back on her and say what she did was futile; it wasn\u2019t,\u201d Fay believes. \u201cIt was enough of a precursor \u2013 sometimes it takes one person to go \u201cNo \u2013 this is wrong,\u2019 for somebody else to think \u2018That\u2019s what I thought too.\u2019 While everybody else was going along with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephen Riordan plays McCarthy; the production also includes Anna Lauren Sperduto as McCarthy\u2019s wife Jean Kerr, a former Smith supporter, and Mike Bringuier as Smith\u2019s aide de camp William Lewis.<\/p>\n
Historians believe Lewis was a closeted homosexual. In his play, DiPetro runs with this theory. \u201cIt shows us the way the Lavender Scare intersected with the Red Scare, which had chilling impacts on members of the queer community in the 1950s,\u201d Despain explains.<\/p>\n
The staged reading follows Powerstories\u2019 July show, a full production of Predictor, the story of the woman who invented the home pregnancy test. Coming in October is The Wash, about an organized strike among Black washerwomen in 1880s Atlanta.<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll be presented at The Studio@620 in St. Petersburg (Powerstories doesn\u2019t have a permanent home, so the shows are produced at theaters on both sides of the bay, depending on who has open days on the calendar).<\/p>\n
For Despain, who replaced Powerstories founder Fran Powers as Executive Artistic Director last year, planning and plotting, producing and directing for the single-vision theater company is \u201ca dream come true.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I came out of the womb a feminist, and that aspect of my personality, depending on my job, couldn\u2019t always be fully present. Now, there\u2019s no question.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I get to be wholly an artist, and wholly a feminist artist. And getting to tell these incredible stories, the kinds of stories I\u2019ve hunted for my entire life is an honor.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s a privilege to share them with the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Powerstories\u2019 Conscience is presented Friday through Sunday; Stageworks is at 1120 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. Click here for showtimes and tickets.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican senator from Maine, made history in 1950 by giving a speech in front…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-367239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}