Liberation

 Liberation
James Earl Jones Theatre
October 14, 2025

Photo courtesy of Liberation

After a successful Off-Broadway run last winter, Liberation has moved to the James Earl Jones Theatre on Broadway.  Playwright Bess Wohl has outdone herself with this play.  She crafted a brilliant exploration into what drives the desire to instigate change and generate lasting impact.  Her characters all speak from the heart, addressing large social and political issues from intimate and personal perspectives.  Director Whitney White skillfully balances the voices, giving each character a platform to be heard.  The cast is phenomenal, creating moments of honest contact that nudges the audience into deep introspection. 

Lizzie (played by Susannah Flood) wants to tell the story of her recently deceased mother who, in 1970, started a women’s liberation group while living in Ohio.  Lizzie has a few unanswered questions about that work and experience, so she looks through her mother’s notebooks.  This transports her to the meetings in the basement basketball court of the local rec center.  Lizzie steps into her mother’s shoes and meets Margie (played by Betsy Aidem), Dora (played by Audrey Corsa), Celeste (played by Kristolyn Lloyd), Isadora (played by Irene Sofia Lucio), and Susan (played by Adina Verson).  They all share their stories, challenges, and trepidations.  Lizzie’s questions are not fully answered, so she contacts the women from the group who are still living.  Lizzie does not stop probing, finally digging into her mother’s choice to marry her father, which is more than she can handle on her own. 

Susannah Flood & Betsy Aidem
Photo courtesy of Liberation

The character of Lizzie directly addresses the audience at various times throughout the play.  This
personally engages the audience, keeping them fully connected to the action as it goes back and forth in time.  Susannah Flood does a remarkable job with this.  She befriends the audience, making them a part of how she tells the story.  She is fully present, emotionally exposed, and highly amiable.  

Photo courtesy of Liberation

Each of the characters is distinctly drawn, and this cast embodies every element of these specific and strong personalities.  Betsy Aidem is phenomenal as Margie.  As her character grows, she does not shed her cynical edge.  Audrey Corsa portrays the emergence of her character Dora with grace and confidence.  She truly blossoms through her participation in the group.  Kristolyn Lloyd is stoic and grounded as Celeste.  She bravely faces her challenges, yet is highly vulnerable when she lets down her guard.  Irene Sofia Lucio creates a lustful and vibrant Isadora.  As transparent as she presents herself, she is continually full of surprises.  Adina Verson is solid and fiery as Susan.  Her subtext is vivid and clear.  There are also powerful performances by Kayla Davion and Charlie Thurston.

Photo courtesy of Liberation

Most of the action of the play takes place in the 1970s and focuses on the women’s liberation
movement.  It directly speaks to who we, as a society, have become since then.  Our successes and our disappointments.  The play makes the point that our participation has value.  Great value.  Everyday value.  This is an important play. 

Liberation is playing at the James Earl Jones Theatre.  You must experience it for yourself.    

Domenick Danza

The Counter

 The Counter
Roundabout at Laura Pels Theatre
Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre
October 16, 2024 

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The Counter is a touching new play by Meghan Kennedy.  It tells the story of two characters who take the time to reach out.  Ms. Kennedy’s dialogue is honest and direct.  Secrets are revealed.  Bonds are formed.  A shift takes place in the routines and expectations of the characters, causing an emotional release for both of them.  It shows how a small connection can make a big difference in a life.  

It is winter in a small upstate New York town.  Paul (played by Anthony Edwards) goes to the same diner for breakfast every morning.  He is served at the counter by Katie (played by Susannah Flood).  They noticed little things about one another, but keep their observations to themselves.  One morning, Paul breaks the routine by asking Katie to be his friend.  He shares a secret about himself, and asks Katie to do the same.  She hesitates, but eventually tells him about voice mails she has saved on her phone from a person she once dated.  After listening to one of them, Paul makes a request that shocks Katie, pulling her in deeper than she anticipated.  

Susannah Flood & Anthony Edwards
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Anthony Edwards and Susannah Flood create a genuine bond in this piece.  It slowly develops, then catapults to a point of no return.  Both actors stay attuned to each other throughout the play, delivering a rhythmic portrayal of connection and reliance.  The more they open up, the more we feel their desperate need.  Their commitment to their word is honorable, building trust that is life-changing for both of them.  

Amy Warren plays Peg, the town doctor.  She unexpectedly shows up at the diner one morning, craving coffee cake.  This brief scene is a turning point for the action.  It is well directed and beautifully performed.  With no words, she and Mr. Edwards show a deep level of intimacy.  This reveals a side of Paul that Katie had not seen before.  She urges Paul to act on his feelings.  He refuses, but later supports her with the same genuine care. 

David Cromer has done an excellent job directing this remarkable cast.  They all deliver captivating performances in this well-crafted play.  The Counter is playing at the Laura Pels Theatre through November 7.  Don’t miss it! 

Domenick Danza

Birthday Candles

 
Birthday Candles
Roundabout Theatre Company
American Airlines Theater
March 29, 2022 

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

How do you measure a life?  Through its celebrations?  Its loses?  Its accomplishments?  Its hardships?  Noah Haidle ponders that question in his play Birthday Candles.  The action takes place on the many birthdays of his main character, spanning almost one hundred years.  Director Vivienne Benesch finds the pearls in each of Mr. Haidle’s tender moments, and this stellar cast string them together to deliver a stunning theatrical experience.

It is Ernestine’s (played by Debra Messing) seventeenth birthday.  Her mother, Alice (played by Susannah Flood), teaches her how to bake her special birthday cake so part of her will live on in tradition.  Ernestine is distracted by her dreams of finding her place in the cosmos and auditioning for the role of King (Queen) Lear in her high school play, but she does learn how to bake the cake.  The action flows seamlessly into her eighteenth birthday.  Her neighbor, Kenneth (played by Enrico Colantoni), surprises her by coming to her party two hours early.  Ernestine is baking the cake as her mother taught her.  Kenneth asks Ernestine to the prom.  She turns him down and tells him to go home and return in two hours.  When Matt (played by John Earl Jelks) shows up early, Ernestine does not send him home, and she does accept his request to take her to the prom.  In an instant, it is eighteen years later.  Ernestine and Matt’s two teenage children (played by Christopher Livingston and Susannah Flood) are celebrating Ernestine’s birthday.  Ernestine is preparing the cake her mother taught her how to bake.  The story continues to flash forward, celebrating the joys, disappointments, and turning points of the coming years on each birthday in Ernestine’s long and abundant life.

Debra Messing, Christopher Livingston, & Susannah Flood
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The cast plays numerous roles throughout the story as Ernestine’s children grow up and have children of their own.  Each distinct character weaves a pattern of love and connection.  Each birthday repeats tradition, sayings, gestures, and sentiment as the characters face the challenges and truths of the present year.  Debra Messing grows and blossoms as Ernestine.  She captures your heart the minute she enters and does not let go throughout the action of the play.  Her physicality shifts as her character ages and her heart expands.  She creates genuine and endearing relationships with each character in the story.  Susannah Flood, Enrico Colantoni, John Earl Jelks, Chrystal Finn, and Christopher Livingston all deliver authentic, heart warning performances.

Birthday Candles is a much needed reminder of what is important on this journey we call life.  It is playing at Roundabout’s American Airlines Theatre through May 29.  Go see it! 

Domenick Danza

Make Believe

Make Believe

Second Stage Theater

Tony Kiser Theater

July 30, 2019

Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theater

Bess Wohl’s Make Believe is a gem of brilliance.  She masterfully crafts damaged characters struggling to release the ghosts of their past.  Her writing is truthful and risky.  Each risk she takes is emotionally engaging and delivers a powerful impact.  The Second Stage Theater production is directed by Michael Greif.  His work is both bold and tender as he allows a phenomenal cast of actors to deliver deep and exposed performances.

Young Addie (played by Casey Hilton) is playing with her Cabbage Patch Doll in her attic playroom.  It is the 1980s.  She is joined by her big sister, Kate (played by Maren Heary).  The trouble starts when their older brother, Chris (played by Ryan Foust) returns from soccer practice.  He is irate because his snack is not waiting for him as expected.  Their mother is nowhere to be found.  As the evening progresses, their mother still not present, they play at having dinner as a family.  Young Kate is the stressed-out mother, Young Chris is the condescending father, Young Addie is the needy baby, and their youngest brother, Carl (played by Harrison Fox), is the pet dog.  Days go by in the attic playroom and the children remain unattended.  Their make believe “play” reveals the brutal truths of their family dynamic.

Fast forward about twenty-five years.  The children, now adults, return to the family home for a funeral.  They seek refuge in the attic playroom.  The pain they carried their whole lives is evident in their personalities.  Their strong bond is illustrated in their acceptance of one another.  That’s why it hits them hard when an unexpected and long buried secret is unearthed.

The Cast of Make Believe
Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theater

The actors playing the young characters are truly remarkable.  They create relationships that are realistic, communicating honest and rich levels of subtext.  The actors playing their adult counterparts beautifully embody the physical and emotional traits set up by the young actors in the early scenes.  Samantha Mathis portrays an apathetic and inflexible Kate.  Susannah Flood plays Addie as insecure and neurotic as expected from her earlier treatment by her older brother and sister.  Brad Heberlee’s portrayal of Carl is moving and heartwarming.  This cast delivers the unexpected in such a natural and comfortable manner that you can’t help being enveloped in the action. 

Director Michael Greif & Playwright Bess Wohl
Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theater

Make Believe is playing at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theater through September 15.  Playwright Bess Wohl delivers numerous thematic tidbits in a play built on a strong and effective armature.  It is a touching, honest, and brutal journey, masterfully written, directed, and performed.  Be sure to see it! 

Domenick Danza