The feminist revolution has taken center stage. Liberation, written by Bess Wohl and directed by Whitney White, officially opened on Broadway on Oct. 28, 2025, at the James Earl Jones Theatre, following a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run earlier this year.
In an interview with Vogue, Wohl said she was inspired by her mother Lisa Cronin Wohl’s work as an editor at Ms.: “The arc of history is so much longer than we realize. Already in 1970 women were feeling frustrated, like, ‘When is this gonna happen?’ … And I think that that urgency really powers so much of the story of the play.”
A moving, timely, and powerful production, Liberation toggles between the aspirations of a consciousness-raising group in the 1970s and the reality of one of the members’ daughters in 2025—demonstrating, as Cara Joy David wrote wrote in her March Ms. review, “how the personal and the political remain intertwined, and how feminist storytelling can shape not just memory, but action.”
The show has been met with rapturous acclaim. The New York Times named it a Critics Pick, praising “a Tony-worthy ensemble plotting revolution.” Variety called it “brilliant,” while The Washington Post wrote, “Liberation is a tribute to women who refused to wait for history to catch up—and a reminder that they never stopped pushing it forward.” The Guardian echoed the sentiment, describing the play as “a vivid, time-hopping portrait of feminist hope and inheritance.”
For Ms., the play’s success carries special resonance. As writer and editor Jennifer Weiss-Wolf put it earlier this year, Liberation “connects the radical energy of the women’s liberation movement to the ongoing struggle for equality today—onstage and off.” Its themes of community, courage and resistance mirror the feminist journalism Ms. has championed for more than 50 years.
Bess Wohl, Lisa Cronin Wohl, White and others from the Liberation team will be honored at the upcoming Feminist Majority Foundation and Ms. Gala on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The evening will also recognize Jen Rubin, Norm Eisen and The Contrarian, and Skye Perryman and Democracy Forward.
As the gala invitation reads, “In this era of unmaking—and truths denied—it’s tempting to think we must pick a single battle: Fight in the courts, or at the polls, or in the streets. But our honorees know better. The attacks on women are everywhere, which means the resistance must be, too.” (Save your spot here. Proceeds from the event fuel the ongoing work of Ms. magazine and the Feminist Majority Foundation, publisher of Ms., to defend democracy and protect women’s rights.)
For a play inspired by Ms.’ founding generation, Liberation is both a work of art and a call to action—reminding audiences that feminist progress has always depended on the power of collective imagination.
Now playing at the James Earl Jones Theatre through early 2026.
