WHAT OUR AUDIENCES HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE SHOW
"This show was surprisingly magnificent. I knew very little about it going in and I must say that it carried a pleasant punch."
The show was mesmerizing!
I literally sat on the edge of
my seat.
Unbelievably and uniquely wonderful! Thank you, and congratulations!
FROM ART TO HEART TO ACTION
Women of Resistance is a stage performance, inspired by the lives of the brave women who helped defeat the Nazis during WWII. We celebrate their lives through music, dance, storytelling and visual art.
Based in Sarasota, we plan to grow WOR into WOW with your help and take our shows nationally and internationally! Thank you to all our guests and donors.
Support Women of Resistance
To join our journey donate securely online. For information about sponsorship, please contact Vicki Chelf 941-928-3426 or John Lambie 941-323-8800
THE INSPIRATION
Women of Resistance
Women of Resistance (WOR) brings to the stage the little-known stories of eight extraordinary women who risked everything to help defeat Fascism during World War II.
They were spies, radio operators, resistance fighters, entertainers, and even a hairdresser. They came from different countries, cultures, and walks of life. What united them was courage—and a refusal to stand by while Nazism spread terror across Europe.
Their stories unfold through music, storytelling, dance, and powerful images, woven into a series of intimate vignettes and culminating in a celebratory finale. Their courage still resonates today, reminding us that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
WOR began with seven portraits.
During a visit to a small Resistance museum in France, artist and writer Vicki Chelf discovered the largely untold stories of women who fought back against the Nazis. She was captivated—and determined to honor them through her art.
The paintings became a gallery exhibition. But viewers wanted more. Who were these women? What did they do? How did they find the courage?
Then, during a meditation, Vicki envisioned their stories on stage—with music, dance, and narration. She called her friend and composer Warren “Slim” Williams. He said yes. Next choreographer James Jordan came on board.
That was 2021.
Since then, WOR has grown from an idea and a series of paintings into a nonprofit theatrical production, bringing together eight choreographers, dancers, musicians, artists, and storytellers to build something entirely new.
The paintings opened the door. The stories demanded a stage.
THE WOMEN OF RESISTANCE
Nancy Wake
The Germans called her the White Mouse because she was so elusive. Nancy Wake became a free-lance journalist, moved to France, married a French Industrialist and became a socialite. Early on, after witnessing the Nazis in action in Austria, she understood the dangers, and did her best to alert the public. In wartime she escorted hundreds of Allied soldiers and downed airmen through occupied France into Spain. She also helped establish communication lines. She lived to the age of 98 and claimed to have once killed a Nazi with her bare hands.
Josephine Baker
The American expat was living in Paris when WWII broke out. She was the hottest performer in Europe. Everyone wanted to be near her, and no one suspected that the ebony beauty was anything other than a talented performer. She used her fame to be privy to conversations that were likely assumed to be over her head. Keeping her eyes and ears open, she took notes and became a valuable spy for the Resistance. She was also a Red Cross volunteer. After the war, she adopted 12 orphans of different races and religions in a quest to prove that all cultures can live together happily and peacefully.
Andree Peel
A hairdresser living in the port city of Brest in Brittany, Andree worked relentlessly to alert France to the danger posed by the Third Reich by distributing underground newspapers and aiding allied troops. Later, she led a team using flashlights to guide airmen to secret landing strips. She aided over 20,000 people and saved the lives of over 100 servicemen. She was arrested and sent to concentration camps. She nearly died of meningitis, was scheduled for the gas chambers twice and finally lined up before a firing squad to be shot. She was rescued at the last minute by American soldiers. She was deeply religious and after the war she became a healer. She lived to be 105.
Hedy Lamarr
This Austrian born actor was discovered by Louis B. Mayer and given a contract in Hollywood. She became a star and performed in several films, including Cecil B. De Mille’s, Samson and Delilah. She is lesser known as an inventor.
To help in the war effort she and composer George Antheil developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes that used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology. Unfortunately, the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960’s. Nonetheless, she went on to raise $25 million in war bonds in 10 days by selling kisses.
Noor Inayat Khan
An Indian princess, Noor Inayat Khan’s father, Inayat Khan brought the wisdom of Sufism to the West starting in 1910. She was a dedicated Sufi, and a musician from a family of classical musicians. Noor was also a poet and an author of children’s books. She was a pacifist and lived her truth. She became the first wireless operator sent from London to France. It was one of the most dangerous jobs of the Resistance and radio operators usually lasted only about 6 weeks before they were captured and killed. After 6 months and a capture and escape, Noor was betrayed, for money, by her landlady and was sent to the Dachau concentration camp where she was executed at age 30. She never gave up any information to her torturers.
Lee Miller
Discontent with a highly successful career as a fashion model, Lee Miller left New York for Paris, to become a student of the famous Surrealist photographer Man Ray. Her social circle included Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Max Ernst, Paul Eluard and others. She could have easily sat out the war with her avant-garde friends, but instead she became a war correspondent and photographer. Her gritty photos of war, and the concentration camps are some of the most powerful visual documents of the horrors of her day. Perhaps the most famous of her war photographs is her self-portrait in Hitler’s bathtub taken just a couple of hours after his suicide.
Virginia Hall
Hailing from Baltimore, educated and brought up to become a proper lady, Virginia seems to have been, to her mother’s dismay, a born adventurer. In 1933 while hunting in Smyrna (now Turkey) she tripped on a barbed wire fence and shot herself in the leg, which had to be amputated at the knee. She studied several languages, and possessed an uncanny intuition to know who could be trusted. As the first woman SOE officer into Vichy, France she created a network that organized resistance movements, supplied agents with money, weapons and supplies and helped downed airmen escape. Later, she worked for the OSS as a radio operator, and more. At one point she escaped the Gestapo by trekking over a 7,500 ft pass in the Pyrenees, covering 50 miles in the snow in two days.
THE WOMEN OF THE WORLD
Inspire & Empower
Please support Women of the World project. You can help us showcase inspiring stories and empower women today through visual and performance art.
Special Thanks
The Gardener Foundation
Brenda Boone | Ann & Fred Bohlander
Christopher Downie | Albert Ford | Elizabeth Moore
The Mellon Foundation
We are grateful to our 2026 Giving Challenge donors, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, with giving strengthened by The Patterson Foundation.
941-928-3426 | Contact Us
WOMEN OF RESISTANCE IS A 501(C)(3) CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION. FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING 1-800-435-7352 WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.