Author: Bess Wohl

Bess Wohl is a playwright and filmmaker. Her play Liberation—now on Broadway—is inspired by her mother Lisa Cronin Wohl, who was a writer and editor for Ms. in the 1970s. Her plays have been produced on and off Broadway, regionally and internationally and her feature film debut, Baby Ruby, starring Noémie Merlant and Kit Harington, premiered at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival and was released by Magnolia Pictures. She also wrote for the Apple TV+ series, Extrapolations, created by Scott Z. Burns.

‘Liberation’ Playwright Bess Wohl on Theater as Resistance: ‘Theater Is Dialogue. Autocracy Is a Monologue.’

At the Feminist Majority Foundation (publisher of Ms.) Global Women’s Rights Awards on Nov. 18 in Los Angeles, FMF honored the team behind the Broadway smash hit Liberation: playwright Bess Wohl, director Whitney White and Lisa Cronin Wohl, an OG Ms. writer from the 1970s.

“Theater is made up of dialogue. Autocracy is a monologue. Theater is about community: We watch a play together. Autocracy seeks to isolate us. Theater is about curiosity: A good play asks a question. Autocracy is not interested in questions, only in control.

“So, thank you, because in honoring this play, you honor the role of dialogue, community and questions in creating social change.”