Studio Theatre joined with co-producers Berkeley Rep and Geffen Playhouse today to announce the initial cast of next spring’s Liberation. Directed by Tony Award nominee Whitney White, Liberation comes to Studio following its acclaimed New York runs both on and Off Broadway, where it won both the 2026 Tony Award for Best Play and the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, among numerous other honors.
Critics praised the play for its emotionally resonant take on the women’s movement of the 1970s as well as its vibrant comedy. The New York Times described the show as “an unadulterated pleasure. Powerfully moving and funny. When these women talk, we want to hear every word.”
The initial cast of Liberation will feature Katie Lowes, Mary Gordon Murray, Evelyn Spahr, Irene Sofia Lucio, Britt Faulkner, Veronica Otim, Gunnar Manchester, and prominent DC actor Felicia Curry.
It’s 1970 in Ohio; feminism is promising change and journalist Lizzie wants in. Soon she’s meeting weekly with five other women, all learning to tell the truth about their lives, and beginning to show up for each other and for the future they have started to imagine. Fifty years later, Lizzie’s daughter stares down the same questions her mother did and turns to the past to untangle how change stalled out. A messy and audacious look at solidarity, sacrifice, and the unfinished political work of the 1970s.
“Bess’s play has become a bit of a phenomenon—it won the Tony; it won the Pulitzer. It’s a play that takes a hard look at the wins and limits of Second-Wave Feminism of the 1970s and does it in ways will be particularly thrilling in Studio’s more intimate Shargai Theatre,” said Studio Artistic Director David Muse. “It’s a play about an Important Cultural Moment, absolutely, but it’s also a mother / daughter play, a play that examines questions that still very relevant in 2026 through a set of nuanced and surprising relationships. The play also represents an exciting moment for Studio as an institution—this is the largest co-production we’ve worked on, with two other significant regional theatres and partnering with Whitney White, director of the original production.”
Tickets to Studio Theatre’s production will go on sale this winter. Currently, tickets are only available to season subscribers.
About The Author
