Christopher McElroen - Our American Queen and Debate: Baldwin vs Buckley Interview

The forgotten story of Kate Chase, the most influential woman in 19th century American politics.

Starring Wallis Currie-Wood (Stevie McCord in Madam Secretary, CBS), a new dramatisation of the life of Kate Chase will draw parallels between 19th and 21st century America, and the glass ceiling that’s yet to be smashed in American politics. Although widely forgotten now, Kate Chase was one of the most astute political minds in America at a time when women weren’t yet allowed to vote. Circumventing lack of opportunities for herself, she became a strong supporter of her widowed father’s three attempts – and failures – to achieve the presidency, which would have made her acting First Lady. Our American Queen charts a few months of her political life and her calculated but ultimately disastrous decisions in marriage, choosing a seemingly advantageous one over one for love.

Kate Chase is played by Wallis Currie-Wood, best known for her role of Stephanie “Stevie” McCord, daughter of the title character in the six seasons of CBS series Madam Secretary. She’s joined by Tom Victor (John Villiers in Mary & George) as the man she loves, John Hay, who she sacrifices for a more beneficial marriage. Haydn Hoskins takes on the role of General McClellan, with two final cast members to be announced as Mrs Eastman and Kate’s father, Ohio politician, Treasury Secretary and later Chief Justice Salmon P Chase.

Our American Queen is presented by the Brooklyn-based arts organisation the american vicarious, which will also present the political drama Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley at Wilton’s Music Hall from 3–7 February, following its 2023 run at Stone Nest. Earlier this year, the company premiered the genre-defying Fight for America! at Stone Nest.

We spoke to Christopher McElroen, director of Our American Queen at the Bridewell Theatre 9 Jan - 7 Feb, and writer and director of Debate: Baldwin Vs Buckley at Wilton’s Music Hall 3 – 7 Feb.

We're excited to delve into your upcoming productions, Our American Queen and Debate: Baldwin Vs Buckley. Can you share what inspired you to bring these stories to the stage?

Both projects confront the gap between America’s highest ideal — that all are created equal — and the realities of who is actually afforded power, voice, and recognition. Our American Queen tells the story of Kate Chase, a woman of extraordinary political intellect and influence at a moment in American history when she wasn’t even permitted to vote. We began developing the piece during a time when the United States failed to elect a woman to its highest office — a reminder of how persistent those barriers remain. Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley grapples directly with America’s original sin of slavery and the enduring struggle for racial equality. The work took shape in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and has continued touring because the questions Baldwin and Buckley wrestle with refuse to recede into history. In different ways, both pieces return to the same question at the heart of the American experiment: who gets to be recognised as equal, and who is still waiting to be fully seen.

How do you see the connection between Kate Chase’s struggles and the current state of women in politics?
Kate’s struggle still resonates. In recent memory, America has twice fallen short of electing a woman to the presidency — a reality that inevitably calls back to the fact that women did not gain the right to vote in the United States until 1920, more than a century after the nation was founded. When you look at that history — and at the long, unfinished effort to enshrine equal rights for women under the law — it becomes clear that progress has come, but unevenly and often slowly. Kate Chase lived in a world that recognised her political brilliance while simultaneously placing firm limits on how far it would allow her to go. That tension still feels familiar. The circumstances have changed, and there has been meaningful progress, but the deeper questions of recognition, agency, and influence for women in politics remain very much alive. Kate’s story reminds us that these struggles are not confined to the past — they continue to shape the present.

It sounds like your productions offer not just entertainment but also a platform for reflection. How do you aim to engage your audiences with these historical debates?

While both productions are rooted in American history, they explore something universal: the need to be seen, understood, and accepted. Our American Queen is, at its heart, a love story — between Kate and John Hay, between Kate and her father, and between Kate and the idea of America. Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley is also a kind of love story; for all their differences, both men cared deeply about the country they were arguing over. Though these stories are American, the questions they raise aren’t. By grounding the work in human longing rather than political abstraction, we invite audiences not just to observe history, but to feel its stakes — and to carry the conversation beyond the theatre.

Being involved in both writing and directing gives you a unique perspective. How do you balance these roles?
I don’t always write the text. On Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley, my role was to adapt — shaping the words of James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. into a theatrical frame that allows their ideas to collide in real time. With Our American Queen, I’m directing the writing of a longtime collaborator; it’s our third project together set in 19th-century America, a moment when the nation was still close to the wound of slavery and the scar tissue it would carry forward. For me, the balance isn’t really between writing and directing — it’s between listening and shaping. Whether I’m working with verbatim text, my own writing, or someone else’s, the task is the same: to clarify the world onstage and invite audiences to recognise the corollaries in their own lives.

Debate: Baldwin vs Buckley.

What was the first piece of theatre that had a big impact on you?
A production of Waiting for Godot, at a time in my life when I genuinely believed he might show up. The simplicity of the language, the stark abstraction of the staging — it felt like a fully realised world painted on a blank canvas, one that invited you to project your own questions and longings onto it. It was the first time I understood how powerful restraint and simplicity could be in the theatre.

What keeps you inspired?
Connection and conversation. Friends and family, first and always. But also the small, daily joys — the things you only notice when you slow down enough to be present. I’m constantly inspired by the work of other artists, by conversations that open a window into someone else’s lived experience, and by those quieter moments when the world’s noise falls away just enough for you to truly see what’s in front of you.

Both productions sound like they’ll spark important dialogues! What do you hope audiences take away from Our American Queen and Debate: Baldwin Vs Buckley?
I hope they’re entertained, of course — but also that audiences feel seen in the work. Our American Queen is, at its heart, about the longing to be recognised and loved. If there’s a single takeaway, it’s a simple one: tell the people you love that you do.

Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley explores that same need for recognition, but on a national scale — who is seen, whose experience is acknowledged, and whose voice counts. I hope it also reminds audiences of the value of engaging one another with care and civility, even — and especially — when we disagree. Both pieces ask us to consider what it means to be seen, by those closest to us and by the society we share.