Even before she began writing the musical Suffs, Shaina Taub wanted to create a project that would stand as a testament to womens empowerment.

The New York actor and composer was at work on a gender-swapped adaptation of the Robin Hood legend in 2014 when she received a copy of Doris Stevens Jailed for Freedom. Published in 1920, the book is a first-person account of the womens suffrage movement and the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which recognized womens right to vote.

It was then, Taub said, that the seed for Suffs was planted.

Id been searching for a story about a group of girls working together, taking on a system, she told HuffPost in an interview. This was exactly what Id been looking for.