'This Show Feels Like My Activism': The Cast of Liberation on Feminism and Community

In Bess Wohl's hit Off-Broadway play Liberation, six women gather in a high school gymnasium in 1970, and they just...talk. About any subject they want: their husbands, their struggles at work, their relationship with their bodies. On the surface, it might not seem compelling, but then one character remarks: "A woman speaking uninterrupted is a radical act." And just like that, Liberation's complex portrait of womanhood comes into focus. The play, which opened February 20 at the Laura Pels Theatre to rave reviews, was just extended to April 6.

Wohl based Liberation on her own mother, who worked at Ms. magazine (founded by Gloria Steinem). "As a child, my mom used to bring me to work with her at Ms. magazine. Growing up, I was entranced by her world, and the world of her friends who also worked there. As I did research for this play, I learned about so many more women who fought hard for women's liberation during the 1970s, many of whose stories are not widely known."

To research her play, Wohl interviewed her mother as well as her mother's friends about the work they did to advance the feminist cause, in a time when women couldn't open their own bank account. And it wasn't just going to rallies and protests, though there were plenty of those, it was also hosting small group gatherings all around the country—gatherings that allowed regular women (who might not have identified themselves as feminist) to just come together and talk. And through those meetings, those women found the language for the nagging feelings they had—such as their frustration at their husband's inability to wash dishes or anger at being passed over for a promotion in favor of a less-qualified man. Those gatherings were called "consciousness raising" groups.

Adina Verson, Irene Sofia Lucio, Audrey Corsa, Susannah Flood, Betsy Aidem, and Kristolyn Lloyd in *Liberation* Joan Marcus

Said Wohl: "I found myself deeply inspired by what they did and their belief that the actions we take, big and small, truly can change the world. As I began to envision the play and the characters started to come into focus, I would imagine them all sitting in the room with me, encouraging me to get started."

In the play, a woman named Lizzie (played by Susannah Flood) living in the 2020s is reeling after her mother's death. A mother now herself, Lizzie is struggling with how women her generation are still facing the same hurdles that women in her mother's generation faced. And how little progress seemingly has been made (Wohl started working on the play before the overturning of Roe v. Wade). Lizzie sets out to discover what happened in 1970, and what she can learn from (and about) her late mother and the women of that generation.

For the actors (seven women, one man) in Liberation, starring in a play about "consciousness raising" has opened their own minds. �뵺�� photographer Heather Gershnowitz followed the cast backstage as they got ready for a performance, while they reflected on how the play has sharpened their own understanding of themselves and helped them find a way through this current complicated moment.

Susannah Flood's dressing room station Heather Gershonowitz

Susannah Flood: “How has the play affected me personally�� hmm�� frankly, I’m exhausted? I almost had a nervous breakdown? But I also feel pretty great now? And purposeful. I don’t know if this is interesting, but it happens to be true: Since I had a child 2.5 years ago, I have been forced by the limited number of hours in the day to go onstage knowing less—about what story I’m telling, about where the play is going and me with it—than I would have felt comfortable with in my younger, freer, childless years. And the happy surprise of that constraint has been that, on the whole, knowing less than I thought I should made me a better actor. This play (because it is so big and asks so much, of everyone) and even more, this production (led by a director [Whitney White], who rejected easy answers and insisted that we hunt the big game) was a level up in that practice of knowing less and going forward anyway. I’m totally indebted to Whitney and Bess for throwing down the gauntlet. And to the rest of the company for, frankly, showing me how to meet the challenge before I knew what the hell to do.

"And the audience. The people coming to the show who are wrestling with the questions of the play: what self-determination means (practically, to the individual person), how to balance our obligations to self and community, and how to love more than one thing unconditionally in your lifetime. And the people of the generation who fought for equality in the public arena. I want those people to leave our show assured that their efforts have not suddenly become invisible, that they’ll be honored by the efforts of the generation that comes after them.��

Betsy Aidem: “While doing Liberation, the feeling of being gobsmacked that the time I came up in, as the only member of the cast who was alive and a teenager the year the play is set, 1970—how much hard-won freedom has been rolled back. I was so sure that my friends and I in those years were championing freedoms that were irreversible. And now here we are, with the evisceration of Roe and all these unthinkable freedoms—marriage equality, trans rights, DEI incentives—now in jeopardy and being decimated yet again by men in power. And yes, even a few misguided women. It's heartbreaking. And this cast is such a fiercely gifted, intelligent, formidable collection of young actresses and actor, that I feel privileged to express this outrage with them, that was nascent in my time and is exactly needed again right now. They are also supremely and riotously funny! And the joyful and brilliant and relentless Whitney White demanded that we work as a collective and take care of each other, so it's a very cohesive company. My character is from a far more repressed generation, so it's a joy to live through her awakening every night and know they are all there to catch me.

"I stay activated by supporting organizations that are trying to save freedom in the world and our planet, ADL, EDF, Environmental Advocates of New York, Planned Parenthood, and A Is For, to name a few. And I practice yoga every day to keep from losing my mind after reading the news. But I think our times are calling for more, and this play is inspiring me to be more of an advocate for the things I believe should be sacrosanct. Thank you to Bess Wohl for lighting a fire under us!"

Kayla Davion, Kristolyn Lloyd, and Audrey Corsa Heather Gershonowitz

Kristolyn Lloyd: “I read this play and my inner child said, 'This one! This one!' It touches on the complexity of navigating the world as a woman and gently grips you tighter and tighter. You can’t be inauthentic at any point when saying Bess�� words 'cause it’s obvious to your castmates. We are that in tune with each other. The role can be very emotionally draining for me to take on night after night, so showing up to good vibes is essential to stay activated. I share a dressing room with Kayla [Davion] and Audrey, and the balance between the three of us is harmonious. We love taking turns DJ-ing during half-hour and sometimes watch our favorite shows together on breaks, usually a comedy. Laughter and good music has been our balm since rehearsals started. Whitney and [sound designer Palmer Hefferan] have great taste in tunes, so we’ve been grooving as a collective to a library of divas. Times are uncertain right now, and this show feels like my activism. Getting on stage and having nightly conversations with each other and the audience feels like I’m stirring the pot of discord, while making direct eye contact. I’ve always been curious and deeply interested in questioning the norm, and this play does that.��

Audrey Corsa: “In her introduction to the group, Adina [Verson]'s character, Susie, says, 'Okay it's 1970, you know, and I’m pretty burnt out on Women's Liberation? ... Women are human beings. If you don’t believe that, at this point, I don’t know how I can help you. It feels kind of like we’re shitting into the wind.' What this play does (with great humor and pathos) is highlight patterns in repeat, generational, political, and social. The conversation continues, the feelings of futility and rage persist. But so, too, does the desire for community, the hunger for a collective social conscience, and humanity’s tendency toward individualism and self actualization. I was lucky to be in the first workshop of this play with Bess and Whitney a year ago. Carrying its themes and questions with me throughout this past election cycle was both clarifying, heartbreaking, and enlivening. I feel so lucky to get to work with this exceptional group of human beings. The continued need for these conversations is most certainly the problem, but as Margie says, ‘It’s also the solution.’��

Kayla Davion: “This play has impacted me in so many ways. But mostly, in the appreciation of the many facets of women and awareness of what community looks like through their many different lenses. It is a reminder that liberation consists of choice, both thought and action. And liberation is not solely individual. It happens through togetherness. For me personally, I am staying activated through Black joy. Simply put. It is my key into my power, it is my key into my breath, and it is my key into my desire for change and my willingness to participate.��

Adina Verson with the Polaroids the cast takes of themselves every night on the stage Heather Gershonowitz

Adina Verson: “Working on Liberation has been personally pivotal on two counts. One: Our playwright, director, and half of the cast are mothers. It's revealed to me that there is often an underlying shame that can occur when you're the only mama on a job. Like, 'Don't be tired, don't let anyone know, don't complain, don't let it affect my work.' But in this process, all of those things are welcome, present, and actually make the work better. It's beautiful.

"Two: In the play, [Kristolyn Lloyd's character] Celeste says, 'Just do what you want, that's the point.' And I've really taken that to heart. Feminism isn't one thing. It's a deep understanding of your own needs and desires, coupled with continued awareness of the invisible systems of oppression and societal norms that may be secretly affecting those wants and needs. It's a very freeing, and inclusive, concept.��

Irene Sofia Lucio: “This play has made me thankful for my mother more than any other play I have ever done. My performance is dedicated to her. I have a picture of her and of my child in the dressing room because motherhood is at the center of this play. I’m also honored to be sharing a dressing room with other mothers. This play has activated me in the present moment—motivated me to join a group and resist isolation and despair. It’s given me energy to fight and hold the line in issues that matter to me for the sake of the next generation (even if I don’t get to see that progress in my lifetime). It’s also provided perspective about this moment in time. We have been here before as a nation, and we need to learn from the 1970s in order to turn our frustration into active resistance.��

Irene Sofia Lucio and the milk pumps in her dressing room. Heather Gershonowitz

Charlie Thurston: “Bess has written a truly great play. It would’ve been an affecting, deeply fulfilling project to work on at any time. And when you add in a visionary director like Whitney�� I mean, come on. But working on it during this moment in time has made it something else. It was wild reading the headlines every morning, watching our country actively move backwards, and then showing up to work and being a part of a community of singularly talented, intelligent, dynamic women wrestling with how to move forward, both in the journey of their characters and in their own lives. Celeste has a line in the play, 'Self-determination has to be balanced with community.' I think about that line every day. At its best, this play is giving us and the audience a community—a place in this brutal moment in history to be joyful, to feel rage, to feel grief, and hopefully be inspired to keep going. I believe the community-building we witness each performance has value, is a form of activism. But why am I not also in the streets protesting? I need to do more. Qween Jean, our brilliant costume designer, is out there, a true patriot, putting her body on the line every chance she gets to try and make this country a better version of itself. To make some of the change at the heart of Liberation. I hope to be more like Qween.��