PHILADELPHIA, PA — A Broadway hit about women gathering to speak candidly about work, motherhood, marriage and freedom is coming to Philadelphia — and audiences will be asked to put away their phones and join that spirit of connection.
Philadelphia Theatre Company will open its 2026/27 season with the Philadelphia premiere of Bess Wohl’s “Liberation,” winner of both the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Directed by PTC Co-Artistic Director Taibi Magar, the production runs for just 18 performances from Oct. 9 through 25 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre.
Produced in association with Baltimore Center Stage, PTC’s staging is the first U.S. production following the play’s Broadway run at Roundabout Theatre Company.
Moving between the early 1970s and the present, “Liberation” follows Lizzie as she attempts to reconstruct a part of her late mother’s life, when she belonged to a women’s consciousness-raising group in small-town Ohio.
As Lizzie brings those women and their conversations back to life, the play explores work, marriage, motherhood, race, desire, ambition and freedom. Their friendships and disagreements also raise a larger question: What did one generation of women change, what remained unfinished and what did their daughters inherit?
“Liberation is about women gathering together and telling the truth about their lives, and there is something incredibly powerful about watching that happen in a theater full of people who have also chosen to gather together,” Magar said.
“What I love about the play is that these women are asking questions about work, motherhood, relationships, identity, and freedom that we are still asking today,” she added. “And underneath all of that is this beautiful question of how well we really know our mothers as women, and what we inherit from the generations that came before us.”
Philadelphia Artists Bring the Story to the Stage
The primarily Philadelphia-based cast features Julianna Zinkel as Lizzie, Susan Rome as Margie, Anna Faye Lieberman as Susan, Ciera Gardner as Celeste, Lee Minora as Isidora, Campbell O’Hare as Dora, Noelle Diane Johnson as Joanne and Brett Mack as Bill.
Magar, an Obie Award-winning director, leads a creative team that includes scenic designer Sasha Jin Schwartz, costume designer LeVonne Lindsay, lighting designer Krista Smith, co-sound designers Daniela Hart and Noel Nichols, hair and wig designer Larry Peterson, intimacy coordinator Sierra Young and assistant director Rose Palmieri.
One element will make every performance particularly unusual: the entire run will be phone-free.
Audience members will place their phones in Yondr pouches upon arrival and keep the secured devices with them until the end of the performance. PTC designed the experience to echo a play centered on what can happen when people gather, listen, and speak openly with one another.
Event Details
- What: Philadelphia Theatre Company presents the Philadelphia premiere of Bess Wohl’s “Liberation”
- When: Oct. 9-25, 2026, with opening night Oct. 14. Performances are Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m., Wednesdays-Saturdays at 7 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m., with additional Wednesday and Saturday matinees.
- Where: Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146
- Cost/Tickets: Single tickets start at $35, including applicable fees. Tickets are available online, by calling 215-985-0420 or at the theater box office. The production is recommended for ages 16 and older.
- More Info: www.philatheatreco.org/liberation
More Ways to Join the Conversation
PTC has scheduled several programs around the production, beginning with a pre-show discussion Oct. 11. Black Theatre Night follows Oct. 15, with special programming beginning an hour before the 7 p.m. performance.
Pre-show activations are planned before the Oct. 17 and 24 matinees, while a post-show discussion will follow the Oct. 18 performance. Accessibility offerings include an audio-described performance Oct. 17, an open-captioned performance Oct. 18 and an ASL-interpreted performance Oct. 21.
The Oct. 17 programming will also include “Leaders Who Lunch,” an 11 a.m.-1 p.m. brunch and panel at the Village of Industry & Art. The conversation brings together award-winning directors Sara Garonzik, who led PTC from 1982 to 2017; Magar; and Amina Robinson, Theatre Horizon’s incoming artistic director and director of PTC’s “Purpose” in February 2027. The panel will explore leadership, theater and maintaining meaningful connections with Philadelphia audiences before the 2 p.m. “Liberation” matinee.
For Philadelphia Theatre Company, “Liberation” opens a new season with a story rooted in conversations begun more than half a century ago. For audiences, its limited run offers something increasingly uncommon outside the theater: two and a half hours to put away the phone, sit together and listen.
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