Hungry Women

 Hungry Women
Black Watch Theatre
SoHo Playhouse
August 6, 2026 

Photo courtesy of Black Watch Theatre & Hungry Women

Melissa Maney’s play, Hungry Women, is a masterpiece in craft, imagination, and thematic relevance.  The action of this ninety-minute piece covers a two hundred year time frame, yet the images and vernacular keep it tight and contained.  Director Daniella Caggiano cast four phenomenal women in these valiant characters.  They rise with the action, taking the audience on an incredible journey. 

The action starts one hundred years ago in Massachusetts.  Ruth (played by Julia Lester), Mary (played by Zoe Dean), and Eden (played by Mariyea) are having tea and lamenting the recent and sudden loss of their husbands and sons.  Victoria (played by Sophie Zmorrod) enters, dressed in the clothes of her deceased husband, and tells them that the county is littered with the bodies of dead men.  The women discuss the challenge of burying the dead and surviving in a world without men.  Victoria, who now prefers to be called Vic, serves lunch, sandwiches made from the body of their dead husbands.  The ladies are aghast, then one by one they recall the abuse and servitude they endured under the heavy hand of their husbands’ dominance.  As they eat, their hunger grows in magnitude. 

Julia Lester, Zoe Dean, Mariyea, & Sophie Zmorrod
Photo courtesy of Black Watch theatre & Hungry Women

The action transitions to a present-day classroom, where Melanie (played by Zoe Dean), Valerie (played by Sophie Zmorrod), and Elizabeth (played by Mariyea) question their teacher, Rebecca (played by Julia Lester), about the history that was erased with the extinction of men.  They have a séance to bring back the male spirits, and are brutally schooled of their callousness and control.  This takes the action forward one hundred years in the future.  Regina (played by Julia Lester) reigns with supreme dominance.  When Violet (played by Sophie Zmorrod) gives birth to a male child, the power system is thrown off balance, and a decision must be made. 

Mariyea, Sophie Zmorrod, Julia Lester, & Zoe Dean
Photo courtesy of Black Watch Theatre & Hungry Women

The four characters in each of the acts are distinct and strong, yet their traits are transported through the time periods.  Julia Lester is staunch and firm as Ruth/Rebecca/Regina.Zoe Dean portrays Mary/Melanie/ Meredith as naïve and curious.  Sophie Zmorrod’s Victoria/Valerie/Violet is rebellious and probing.  Mariyea’s Eden/Elizabeth/Eleanor is intellectual and stoic.  This consistency keeps the conflict alive over the expansive time frame.  The fact that discourse repeats itself through the centuries is historically accurate and, in terms of this play, herstorically compelling.  These four women deliver monumental performances, keeping the conflict fresh and new in each of the acts, until it lands in a stunningly satisfying final moment.

Mariyea, Sophie Zmorrod, Julia Lester, & Zoe Dean
Photo courtesy of Black Watch Theatre & Hungry Women

Act I contains monologues that give insight into each characters’ previous experiences.  These monologues are skillfully written and come at the moment each character must face their fear in order to make a crucial decision.  They are each delivered flawlessly.  Director Daniella Caggiano seamlessly transitions the action from the moment to introspection then back to the moment, bringing the pain the characters experienced into the urgency of the present situation.  Their decision propels the action forward and affects future generations.  The images from these monologues recur in the second and third acts, creating a throughline of memory and trauma.

The Black Watch Theatre production of Hungry Women is playing at SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam St., NYC) through August 30.  Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, & Saturdays at 7:00, and Sundays at 5:00.  This play challenges your understanding of gender equality and illustrates the harmful outcomes of dominance and control.  Don’t miss it! 

Domenick Danza