NEW YORK CITY — Written by Bess Wohl and directed by Whitney White, Liberation on Broadway is billed as a 1970s gathering of women to talk about changing their lives and changing the world. What is not told on the poster is the production is what is described as a memory play, a reconstruction of the life of a mother by a daughter. The daughter, Lizzie, is trying to understand her mom’s life outside of being a mom, what happened to the feminism of the 1970s, and what are we doing about it now?
Liberation is currently playing in an open run at the James Earl Jones Theatre in New York City, New York.
The day before I saw the show I had the distinct privilege of sitting in a room with a panel including director White, writer Wohl, actor Betsey Aidem playing Margie, actor Susannah Flood playing Lizzie, and actor Kristolyn Lloyd playing Celeste in the production. The pure love and joy these women had for the work they were doing made me even more determined to understand why Liberation is such an important part of American Theatre right now.
The story follows Lizzie as she tries to recreate a time in her mother’s life when her mother and her friends would meet as a group of women in the 1970s trying to liberate themselves from being held back by patriarchy and oppression. The group is made up of very interesting and delightful characters. Susan, played by Adina Verson, is homeless, living in her car, and trying to find herself and a way to support herself. Margie, played by Betsey Aidem, is a housewife of over 20 years who has sacrificed everything for her husband and kids and struggles to know if it is all worth it. Dora, played by Audrey Corsa, is a beautiful secretary who wants to be seen for her hard work and not her beauty. Celeste, played by Lloyd, is fighting both sexism and racism while trying to bridge the gap between civil rights and feminism. Isidora, played by Irene Sofia Lucio, is dealing with immigration issues along with the sexism added to the storyline. The final cast members are Charlie Thurston as Bill and Kayla Davion as Joanne, who add small but needed parts in this rare ensemble show where there is no standout star. Everyone has their moment to shine and I could take twenty pages to point out all of the moments.
Audrey Corsa, Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio, and Adina Verson in the Broadway production of Liberation by Bess Wohl directed by Whitney White. Photo Credit Little Fang.
One such moment is Margie giving a speech about trying to help her husband understand how much work she has done over the years. Discussing the three pages she wrote of the things she did, writing small, and hoping he would read it and acknowledge her work. This was one moment where the privilege of having been witness to the panel before and hearing Aidem discuss her work as an actress made that moment so much more profound. Aidem discussed her work envisioning just how much time her character had been working to care for her family, down to the minutes, to lead to the breakdown and speech in this scene.
Flood as Lizzie has many moments of breaking the fourth wall. Director White discussed this in the panel as making the show more of a conversation. This play is very much a memoir of loss of a mother, not just a look at feminism. Seeing as I lost my mom only a few years ago, this hit deep. At the end of the production, there is a moment where Aidem switches from Margie to portray Lizzie’s mother so Lizzie can have a moment to ask her mom questions. Spotlights shine on both characters in a soft and caring way. Lighting designer Cha See, who is billed as the first Filipino lighting designer on Broadway (very special to my family with my own filipina aspiring techie-theater daughter in college right now!) really hit the mark with that moment. As a daughter who has so many questions I did not ask my mom before she left us, I was openly weeping at this moment. And then when Aidem said the line “Don’t get so caught up in not being your mother that you forget to become yourself” I thought I would perhaps lose it all right there.
Susannah Flood and Betsy Aidem in in the Broadway production of Liberation by Bess Wohl directed by Whitney White. Photo Credit Little Fang.
I took five pages of notes during the show. And spent a shameful amount of money at the merchandise booth. The sweatshirt quotes the line “A woman speaking uninterrupted is a radical act.” There were so many points made that there is not time to elaborate on in a word-limited review. Wohl talked about looking forward to bringing this story to regional theatres and telling this story in more spaces. There were moments I was terribly uncomfortable. There were moments when as a mental health therapist I wanted to shout AMEN from the rooftops. It felt like there was no perfect answer or solution, and that was ok. There are so many stories. So many radical acts. So many reasons that we may or may not understand why our mothers did or didn’t do what they did. Ask the questions while you can. I’m going to go call my daughters.
