The Red Skies Music Ensemble's "...historical and musical probing of the real story of Katie Casey is one of the most exciting and rewarding projects I've encountered in ages.  It's guaranteed to stimulate your mind and tap your feet."   Lee Lowenfish, author of the award-winning baseball biography "Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman" and former editor-publisher of Lee Low's New York Jazz Newsletter
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game: The Story of Katie Casey, Suffrage and Our National Pastime" was sponsored by the Library of Congress to celebrate a connection between the overlapping opening and closing of two major exhibits:  Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote and Baseball Americana.​

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game:"
The Story of Katie Casey, Suffrage and Our National Pastime

Co-Authors: George Boziwick & Trudy Williams

Verse 1
Katie Casey was base ball mad,
Had the fever and had it bad;
Just to root for the home town crew,  
ev'ry sou Katie blew.
On a Saturday, her young beau
called to see if she'd like to go,
To see a show but Miss Kate said
"No, I'll tell you what you can do: 
Chorus
Take Me Out to the Ball Game...
Katie Casey’s reply was a refrain that would be echoed by generations of baseball fans, most of them unaware of the social significance of the song's rarely-heard complete verses. Against the background of the tune's Irish-American heroine, her love of baseball, and women's rights activism, this engaging show traces and animates the social and musical interactions by which the song's chorus grew into one of America's most popular refrains.​ 

​"Take Me Out to the Ball Game:" The Story of Katie Casey, Suffrage and Our National Pastime is about more than just a "baseball song". The song's lyrics provide the little known, fascinating connection between baseball, music, suffrage, social activism and vaudeville.  The show includes  a vivid, research-based narration, a dozen songs, theatrical roles, and digitized archival imagery.
​Shine On Harvest Moon
Norworth/Bayes  (1908)
Gee It's a Wonderful Game  
​Ring Lardner/"Doc" White (1910)
Take Your Girl to the BallGame 
​Cohan and Jerome & Schwartz (1908)
Laura Hankin as Katie Casey and Sean Mahony as her Beau, singing a tune popular at the time, with a word play on 'women wanting to vote'. Depending on lyric context, the meaning of 'wanting' changes from 'lacking' to 'asserting'.

   Take Me Out to the Ball Game 
Norworth/Von Tilzer (1908)

      Special guest at 2012 program: 
Ed Alstrom, New York Yankees Organist 
Video clip: Laura Hankin as Katie Casey, the tune's fictional heroine, a composite of the 'New Women' fighting for equal rights.
​Video clip: Pier Morton as Ida B. Wells,
Journalist, Author, Publisher, Activist. 
Video clip: Jonathan Sonneborn as statesman Elihu Root on why women are not qualified to vote or participate in governing. 
​Dialog combines interpretive adaptations and mainly text excerpts
from Hon.Root's published public speeches.   
Performances
Versions of this program were performed at:

​2019: The Library of Congress, in conjunction with the exhibits Baseball Americana and Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote.​
​
2012 and 2016: Lincoln Center Public Program Series at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
2012 Performance Musicians photo:
​Kevin Yatarola
Performance photos: Janice Wood Wetzel
Music selections were recorded live at the 2012 performance, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Lincoln Center.
Video excerpts are from a rehearsal of the 2016 performance, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center. 
Ensemble 
Co-Authors: George Boziwick and Trudy Williams 
Artistic Director/Curator: Trudy Williams
Curator/Music Director: George Boziwick 

Actors
Narrator: George Boziwick
Katie Casey: Laura Hankin
Sean: Sean Mahony
Ida B. Wells: Pier Morton
Elihu Root: Jonathan Sonneborn
Suffrage Song Leader: Heidi Hackney

  
​Musicians
Vocals: Laura Hankin (2016/19)
            Sigali Hamberger (2012)
            Sean Mahoney
Backup vocals: Sara Banleigh; Heidi Hackney    
Piano: Sara Banleigh, Ed Alstrum (special guest, 2016) 
Clarinet: Matthew Snyder
Trombone: Sean Mahony
Mandolin, Guitar: Rob Meador
Banjo: Leah Wells (2012)
Harmonica: George Boziwick
Bass: Trudy Williams
Percussion: Phil Forbes
Images:  The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts: Music and Recorded Sound Division; Billy Rose Theatre Division; The New York Public Library: Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy. The Library of Congress.
Copyright 2025 George Boziwick and Trudy Williams                                                                                        The Red Skies Music Ensemble: Co-founded in 2010 by George Boziwick and Trudy Williams