‘LIBERATION’: Audrey Corsa, Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio & Adina Verson. Photo: Little Fang.

LIBERATION
By Bess Wohl
Directed by Whitney White
Through February 1, 2026
James Earl Jones Theatre
138 West 48^th Street
https://liberationbway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Stories about feminism and the women’s movement more than 50 years ago might seem anachronistic to some. However, Bess Wohl’s Liberation, set in Ohio in 1970, is quite relevant and topical today. It’s disturbing to think that the same rights and freedoms feminists fought for back then are all issues women still face in 2025 America. Women must still fight for the right to choose and equal pay. They battle sexism and grapple with double standards in a male-dominated society. This production (which premiered off-Broadway this past winter at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre) features one of the best ensemble casts on the New York stage in years.

‘Consciousness raising’ in an Ohio town

Lizzie (Susannah Flood) is a journalist in a small Ohio town and decides to start a “consciousness-raising” group. They meet weekly in a rec center’s basketball court to talk about women’s issues and ongoing struggles with men. She acts as narrator for the tale.

The story of young Lizzie is interspersed with that of her daughter in the 2020s. Ms. Flood also portrays Lizzie’s daughter in the present day, interviewing original group members years after her mother’s death. Her daughter wants to discover why her mother went from being a feminist activist to a more traditional woman later in life. Lizzie’s daughter wants to find out what happened to the group’s idealism over the years.

…And ladies of the club

One of the unique aspects of Liberation is the way it shows a microcosm of women from diverse backgrounds, races and socioeconomic levels, all facing similar oppression simply because of their gender. The only other women’s group that meets at the venue is a knitting circle.

Members of the sisterhood

The sisterhood of Lizzie’s group includes Margie (Betsy Aidem), the oldest member who has been married for decades to the same man. Joanne (Kayla Davion) is the group’s first Black member. She’s an author and feels slightly out of place because, as an African American, her level of oppression is far worse as a female woman of color.

Dora (Audrey Corsa) stumbles into the group unexpectedly, thinking it was a knitting club, but she’s frustrated as a beautiful woman working for a wine company, forced to grapple with sexism and objectification by the men at her job.

In addition, Isidora (Irene Sofia Lucio) is from Italy and the only immigrant. She has a unique perspective on women’s issues that differs from the American women. Susan (Adina Verson) is a radical feminist, while Celeste (Kristolyn Lloyd) is a Black woman who joins the group later in the story. Bill (Charlie Thurston) plays a key role in young Lizzie’s past.

A memory play from a woman’s perspective

Lizzie tells the audience at the beginning of the show that Liberation is a memory play. The show’s full title is Liberation: A Memory Play About Things I Don’t Remember. Memory plays often feature a main character recalling past events. Prime examples include The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and Betrayal by Harold Pinter.  Lizzie uses this method as present-day narrator to examine her mother’s past.

Women’s struggles remain consistent over decades

Playwright Bess Wohl captures the essence of intergenerational conflicts and the thorny issues related to activism. Ms. Wohl also shows how feminism and the ongoing fight for women’s equality are both different for every woman based on her circumstances and identity. However, the need for women to be heard, taken seriously by men, be paid a fair wage and also appreciated is something that has not changed much since the dawn of the women’s movement. Women today still are expected to have and raise children, work, manage a household and also live up to overwhelming expectations created by men and society in general.

Razor-sharp direction of an excellent ensemble

Director Whitney White does an outstanding job of directing this excellent ensemble. There are so many fine performances here that it’s difficult to single out any as standouts because each actress is so great in her own right. Susannah Flood does a remarkable job as narrator, young Lizzie and her daughter. Betsy Aidem is sensational as Margie, the eldest group member who has struggled living the only life she knows as wife to man who can do little for himself. Audrey Corsa is often poignant as the beautiful, naïve yet powerful career woman Dora. Kayla Davion as the intellectual Joanne is always entertaining with her nonstop wit, and Kristolyn Lloyd as Celeste, Irene Sofia Lucio as Isidora and Adina Verson as the militant feminist Susan are equally superb.

Liberation is a brutally realistic, consistently funny “herstory” lesson that speaks volumes about the inequitable state of women in past and present America. The play shows why there should not be anything “radical” about treating women as equal to men and giving women the respect they deserve. Without question, Liberation is one of the best dramas of the year.

Published November 1, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on October 29, 2025

‘LIBERATION’: Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio, Betsy Aidem & Audrey Corsa. Photo: White Fang.

‘LIBERATION’: Susannah Flood & Betsy Aidem. Photo: Little Fang.

‘LIBERATION’: The cast. Photo: White Fang.

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‘SUFFS’: Jenn Colella & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

SUFFS
Book, music & lyrics by Shaina Taub
Directed by Leigh Silverman
Choreography by Mayte Natalio
Music Box Theatre
239 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.suffsmusical.com

By David NouNou

Suffs by Shaina Taub is one of this season’s more ambitious musicals, if for no other reason the subject matter it tackles.

Starting out in 1913, the women’s movement for the right to vote in America is being spearheaded by the suffragists or “suffs,” as they call themselves. Headed by Alice Paul (Shaina Taub) and joined by activist Lucy Burns (Ally Bonino), lawyer and peace activist Inez Milholland (Hannah Cruz), Polish-American factory inspector Ruza Wenclawska (Kim Blanck) and women’s rights activist Doris Stevens (Nadia Dandashi), they are the new generation that is pushing to get enough states to pass the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. On the more temperate and established side, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) is headed by Carrie Chapman Catt (Jenn Colella).  Ms. Chapman Catt and NAWSA  want to help pass the 19^th Amendment, but believe women must persuade men in softer, less aggressive ways, such as saying “allow Mother to vote.”

Alice Paul has more radical ideas about getting the 19^th Amendment passed, and she soon breaks away from NAWSA and creates the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, later known as the National Woman’s Party in 1916. Alice Paul’s group uses more aggressive types of civil disobedience to encourage President Woodrow Wilson (Grace McLean) to support women’s right to vote.

As with any movement, it is ongoing, with endless problems. The women mentioned earlier are fighting for the white women’s right to vote. Matters are further complicated when the Black women, headed by Ida B. Wells (Nikki M. James), want women of color to be able to vote as well, and how well that would work down South. Also, where in the parades will they be placed? This is all under the term of President Woodrow Wilson. President Wilson wanted the whole movement to go away by throwing the marchers or agitators into prison and torturing them.

The subject matter is heady and historical, but not always satisfying. Instead of a flowing narrative, it seems more like episodic scenes attached one after another to make a complete musical. The book is repetitious at times. However, the score by Ms. Taub is remarkable. The score propels the story forward more clearly than the convoluted book and is very enjoyable.

Being a large ensemble but headed by Ms. Taub as Alice Paul, there are some exceptional performances, including Kim Blanck, Ally Bonino, Jenn Colella, Hannah Cruz, Nadia Dandashi, and Nikki M. James. Most have beautiful singing voices and wonderful stage presences.

Director Leigh Silverman certainly had her hands full with such serious subject matter and an extraordinarily large cast, and she often makes it work, but some of the less necessary scenes could have been trimmed.

There is a wonderful touch at the end when the new generation steps in and starts to take over while Alice Paul watches. It is awe-inspiring seeing what those women achieved, but one can’t help but watch in horror thinking how Roe vs. Wade has been overturned or considering what recently happened in Arizona with the strictest abortion bans, with a law from the 1800s now being enforced after a controversial ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court. What would the women in Suffs have thought and done today? Suffs shows that, no matter how far women have come, there is still a long way to go for women’s equality in modern-day America.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 22, 2024
Reviewed at April 21, 2024 press performance

‘SUFFS’: Hannah Cruz (center, on horse) & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘SUFFS’: Nikki M. James (center) & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘SUFFS’: Anastacia McCleskey, Laila Erica Drew & Nikki M. James. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘SUFFS’: Shaina Taub. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘SUFFS’: Tsilala Brock & Grace McLean. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘SUFFS’: Hannah Cruz. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘SUFFS’: Emily Skinner. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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