By Lindsay B. Davis
“Hierarchy is patriarchy.” Participants speak uninterrupted, and no, this is not a knitting circle. The year is 1970, we are in the basement of an Ohio rec center, and as the consciousness-raising (CR) group of women in playwright Bess Wohl’s Liberation begins to take shape, the fierce urgency of now assumes center stage.
But first, our present-day narrator, Lizzie (Susannah Flood, anchored in truth and vulnerability), addresses the audience as a “memory play, in a way,” based on journalistic interviews she conducted with members of the CR and her late mother, the group’s founder. Lizzie portrays her mom in flashbacks (minus pivotal scenes in Act Two, for which Kayla Davion steps in), one of many devices sharply executed by director Whitney White.
Liberation’s ensemble is in top form. Isidora (Irene Sofia Lucio), the half-Italian, half-Jewish daughter of immigrants unhappily married for the green card, drives Act One with the energy of a race car and comedic timing of a metronome. Ivy-educated Celeste (Kristolyn Lloyd), who finds herself in Ohio to care for her ailing mother, guides the group based on activist experiences in New York; just don’t call her a “radical,” or call out her identity as a queer, Black woman.
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Housewife Margie (a transcendent Betsy Aidem), also weary of the status quo, manages the problem that has no name with quiet rage. At the same time, Marxist Jewish lesbian Susan (Adina Verson) searches for both the revolution and a home (figuratively and literally, she lives in her car). Along with other equally compelling stories, these feminist fish out of water in a Rust Belt gym find community, support, and rigorous honesty. Humor touching on the absurd energizes ideological debates and brings the characters closer together despite their differences.
Liberation balances both intellect and heart, which makes for a remarkable night of theater. As Lizzie gets closer to understanding her mother’s multi-faceted ambitions, one last trip through time may leave you sobbing.
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Fast facts: ‘Liberation’
Bess Wohl’s Liberation examines a 1970s women’s consciousness-raising group through the eyes of the present day, with an ensemble that shines in this unapologetic memory play.
- James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 West 48th Street, New York City
- Running time: Two hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission
- Performances through March 1, 2026
