Betsy Aidem, Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sovia Lucio, Adina Verson, Audrey Corsa, Susannah Flood (Photo: Little Fang)
Liberation
By Fern Siegel
Feminism in the 1970s fought for recognition. And the issues — pay parity, better child care, economic equality and career advancement — remain. It’s thanks to those pioneering efforts, that many younger women take certain rights for granted today. But the women’s lib struggle, in Bess Wohl’s funny, smart, eye-opening play, is a potent reminder that fighting for progress is never-ending.
Broadway’s Liberation, now at the James Earl Jones Theater, is blessed with an extraordinary ensemble cast. Six women, representing the variety of women’s experiences, tell their stories at a 1970 consciousness-raising group. It’s set in a Ohio recreation center, where all the banners proclaim boys’ sports: wresting, basketball, etc. The girls are invisible.
These women, confronting injustice, are not.
There’s Dora, an ambitious woman exhausted by sexism (Audrey Corsa), a gender-nonconforming Marxist writer (Adina Verson), Isidora (Irene Sofia Lucio), a passionate Italian immigrant stuck in a green-card marriage, but demanding equal rights, Celeste (Kristolyn Lloyd), a black book editor caring for a dying mother, and Margie (Betsy Aidem) the oldest member, married for 30 years, who admits her fantasy is stabbing her husband.
The play is narrated by Lizzie (Susannah Flood), a stand-in for Wohl, trying to reconcile her once-activist mom, who orchestrated the consciousness–raising group, with the traditional parent who raised her. As she steps back and forth in time, playing both roles, we see an evolving consciousness, female bonding and the reality of a time when women couldn’t get a credit card or bank loans without a male cosigner.
But what’s great about Liberation is that it isn’t didactic or an ideological rant. It renders the women’s experiences as real, heartfelt and brave — with all their sass, confusions and victories in place, led by a pitch-perfect cast that doesn’t miss a beat. And it’s deftly directed with energy and pacing by Whitney White.
Audrey Corsa, Irene Sofia Lucio, Kristolyn Lloyd, Adina Verson (Photo: Little Fang)
David Zinn’s set takes us back in time, but it’s Qweek Jean’s costumes that best express the period, aided by Nikiya Mathis’ wig and hair designs. Palmer Hefferan and Ben Truppin-Brown’s sound design utilize songs from The Supremes and Led Zeppelin to complete the mood.
Freedom and possibility are in the ether, as the women wage strikes, defy chauvinistic bosses and uncover difficult truths about themselves. Does Lizzie want marriage, an institution she opposes, with a man she loves? What are the compromises we make as we forge new paths?
Those questions are asked in ways both sharp and poignant.
Like Suffs, the epic musical about women’s suffrage that debuted on Broadway earlier this year, Liberation underscores the importance of community, as well as action. In the current political climate, some of the key reproductive rights 1970s’ feminists fought to secure have been obliterated. Liberation is part time capsule, part memory play, illustrating that the battle for equality is fought daily. The play reflects on the past — with critical lessons for the future.
Liberation
At the James Earl Jones Theater
138 W. 48 St.
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes, 1 intermission
Tickets: www.broadway.com/shows/liberation/
Through Jan. 11, 2026
