At the James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., New York through Feb. 1. liberationbway.com
From left, Betsy Aidem, Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio, Adina Verson, Audrey Corsa and Susannah Flood in the Broadway production of “Liberation” by Bess Wohl. Photo by Little Fang
I wish I could have a long chat with my mother about “Liberation,” Bess Wohl’s fascinating and inspiring look at the women’s liberation of the 1970s, the choices made, the compromises, the regret and promise.
I was too young at the time to think about such things, but I wondered what my mother’s own experiences were at the time, if she felt limited in what she could do, though she had a career as a teacher and earned a master’s degree and went back to school around that time before becoming a full-time teacher.
Wohl’s play features women gathered for a consciousness raising group at an Ohio recreation center and they represent a broad range of experiences, beginning with Lizzie, a stand-in for the playwright, who is exploring her own mother’s place in the world.
The housewife Margie makes a list of all the things she does from meals and laundry, shopping and carting her three kids, and how little her husband contributed to running the house or caring for the children. Another got married to earn a green card, unable to live out her dreams. Celeste, the sole Black woman in the group, tries to figure out how to blend her concern about civil rights with the women’s rights movement. Dora begins to learn how to fight for what she wants, to not be treated as the “dolly” by her chauvinistic colleagues and let them see her capabilities.
Lizzie is a would-be writer and journalist who can’t feels stuck writing about marriages and obituaries because the men she works with don’t take her seriously.
Under the sure-handed direction of Whitney White, and with Wohl’s knack for mixing drama and humor, they’re an interesting mix, beautifully performed by a terrific group of actresses, led by Susannah Flood as Lizzie.
Patrons must lock their phones in pouches because in one scene the women explore freeing themselves by shedding their clothes and facing various levels of comfort continuing their conversations completely naked.
I have recommended the play to several women I know and suggested they take their mothers and children for a true multi-generational experience.
Wohl worked on the play during a residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat in Englewood, and there has been a lot of buzz about a potential Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award later this year.
