Broadway Across America and the Voices of Women Festival in Salt Lake City
Eccles Theater 's McCarthey Plaza hosts a free community festival connecting live theater to Utah 's suffragist history
NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / April 15, 2026 /The Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City, the home of Broadway Across America 's series in Utah, marketed as Broadway at the Eccles, opened its outdoor McCarthey Plaza last November to something more than a touring production. The Voices of Women Festival, a free two-day gathering organized to honor Utah 's women, women 's organizations, and the state 's suffragist history, used the theater 's public-facing space as a civic gathering point. Admission was free, and all were welcome.
The festival, which ran November 14 and 15 and was supported by Broadway Across America, was organized to celebrate the 1870 passage of the women 's suffrage law in Utah, a moment when Utah women became the first in the country to exercise the right to vote, predating the 19th Amendment by fifty years. The program included historical exhibits, live music and performances, showcases of women-owned businesses and organizations, storytellers and speakers, and family-friendly programming.
The list of participating organizations reads as a cross-section of Utah 's civic and advocacy landscape: Better Days, the Utah Women 's History Initiative, the League of Women Voters Utah, Girl Scouts of Utah, YWCA Utah, the Utah Women in Music project, Utah Women and Leadership Project, and others.
The connection between Broadway Across America and the Voices of Women Festival was not incidental. The festival was tied to the local run of Suffs, the musical about the women 's suffrage movement that had its Broadway premiere in 2024.
Broadway Across America, which presents Broadway productions in more than 45 North American markets, has worked to build programming around its touring productions that connect to and showcase local history, civic identity, and community life. In Salt Lake City, that meant using the suffrage story embedded in Suffs as an entry point for a broader conversation about Utah women and their history.
Broadway Across America has also invested heavily in community relationships across its markets, working with local partners to make its venues points of civic engagement rather than simply destinations for theater audiences. Eccles Theater 's McCarthey Plaza, an outdoor public space adjacent to the main venue, provides the right kind of infrastructure for unique programming.
A place known for touring Broadway productions became, for two days in November, a gathering point for Utah civic life: the League of Women Voters alongside a coffee vendor, historical exhibits about suffragists next to showcases for women-owned businesses. Broadway Across America 's presence in Salt Lake City, through Broadway at the Eccles, made the space possible. The community showed up in force to bring it to life.
CONTACT:
Andrew Mitchell
media@cambridgeglobal.com
SOURCE: Cambridge Global
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