Lucy Burns

Who is Lucy Burns?

Lucy Burns works alongside Alice Paul as a fellow organizer and strategist, helping build the more confrontational wing of the suffrage movement from the ground up. Their partnership is one of shared conviction and mutual sacrifice, including arrest and imprisonment for their activism, though the show also shows friction between them as the movement's demands mount.

Burns brings a grounded, practical energy that complements Paul's single-minded drive, and her loyalty is tested as the strain of years of organizing takes its toll on both women.

Lucy Burns's role in Suffs

Lucy Burns is a supporting role in Suffs, functioning as Alice Paul's right hand and closest confidante throughout the show. The part requires a performer who can convey steady resolve alongside real warmth, providing an emotional counterbalance to Paul's more austere determination.

Audiences remember Burns for grounding the show's central friendship in something recognizably human, giving the movement's cause a personal, relatable core alongside its larger political stakes.

Lucy Burns on stage vs screen

Broadway compared with Iron Jawed Angels, HBO's 2004 film of the same history

Lucy Burns, Alice Paul's closest ally, was played by Frances O'Connor opposite Hilary Swank in HBO's Iron Jawed Angels (2004), a separate film about the same campaign. In Suffs, Ally Bonino originated the role both Off-Broadway in 2022 and on Broadway in 2024.

The musical gives Lucy her own reckoning. She brings back the news that Inez Milholland collapsed and died on a speaking tour, and near the end she sings Lucy's Song, looking back on the struggle before she retires from activism. She also sings in Find a Way, Great American Bitch, and Worth It.

Lucy Burns: frequently asked questions