Meet the cast of 'Liberation' on Broadway

The entire award-winning ensemble who starred in the world premiere of Bess Wohl's play earlier this year reprise their roles at the James Earl Jones Theatre.

Gillian Russo
Written byGillian Russo

Shows transfer from Off-Broadway to Broadway all the time, but it's rare that the entire cast moves with it. That makes Bess Wohl's Liberation, directed by Whitney White at the James Earl Jones Theatre, a unique Broadway event — especially as the play's eight actors collectively won two Outstanding Ensemble awards for their Off-Broadway performances earlier this year.

Liberation follows an unlikely team of women in the 1970s as they form a "consciousness-raising" group to launch a feminist movement in their suburban Ohio town. Fifty years later, the daughter of the group's organizer tries to piece together this history, wondering when and how their mission went astray.

The actors playing these women have careers as diverse as their characters' backgrounds. They encompass NYC stage veterans (including Tony Award nominee Betsy Aidem, Kayla Davion, Susannah Flood, Kristolyn Lloyd, and Irene Sofia Lucio), Broadway newcomers (like Audrey Corsa and Charlie Thurston), and familiar faces from TV (like Only Murders in the Building's Adina Verson) alike. Get to know the Liberation Broadway cast below by learning more about their characters, what they'd name themselves as a group, and the women in theatre who inspire them.

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Summary

  • The eight actors in Liberation on Broadway discuss their characters and the women in theatre who inspired them
  • The cast previously won two Outstanding Ensemble awards for Liberation's Off-Broadway world premiere in spring 2025
  • The play follows the formation of a feminist group in 1970s Ohio

Charlie Thurston

Adina Verson

Irene Sofia Lucio

Kristolyn Lloyd

Kayla Davion

Audrey Corsa

Betsy Aidem

Susannah Flood

Susannah Flood

Who she plays: I play Lizzie, who the audience meets initially. [She] is trying to understand her mother a little bit better, who she experienced as a traditional, stay-at-home, devoted mom who, in her youth, was a radical feminist and started a consciousness-raising group with other women in her community in Ohio. I play both the narrator and her mother.

Line that defines her character: "I don't know." This history that the play is exploring came from people who were doing their best under circumstances they weren't in control of and were just trying to do what they could to help their community, to help themselves, to advocate for what they believed in, and none of us really know how to do that. We can embrace an imperfect, improvisatory way of doing that.

Name for the cast: For a while, our text thread was called "The Biddies." Now it's called "Liberation Cast For Real" because there's one cast member who was accidentally left off for a very long time. So I guess I'd call us The Real Biddies.

Theatre artist who inspires her: My best friends are both actresses: Miriam Silverman and Crystal Finn. These are people I've known a really long time.

If I was to reach into the vault and pick a diva, I'd pick Laurette Taylor because she was just a badass, and because generations of people after her remember her and talk about her in the original performance of The Glass Menagerie.

Susannah Flood

Betsy Aidem

Who she plays: [Margie is] the oldest member of the group and the least likely to join a group. I am not a joiner as a person, so playing this part has made me realize what happens when you allow yourself to take in other people's stories and listen, and try to examine what they're up against and what that might ask of you.

Line that defines her character: "You want a revolution, but you want it on your own terms, and you don't want to have to give anything up to get it."

Name for the cast: Watch Out, We're Comin'

Theatre artist who inspires her: I started acting 50 years ago, so the people who have played my moms [and] people I've done plays with who are legends to me. Rosemary Prince, Mary Beth Peil, getting to see Lois Smith all these years.

There are so many mentors, and even my peers: [Deirdre] O'Connell, J. Smith Cameron, Linda Emond.

Betsy Aidem

Audrey Corsa

Who she plays: I play Dora, and I love her very, very much. She's maybe the most naive of the group and comes in unsuspecting, and that is why her transformation is such a joy to get to play. And also so relatable, because you don't know what you don't know until you know it.

Line that defines her character: "They saved my life."

Name for the cast: [I can't] distill it down into one word!

Theatre artist who inspires her: Marin Ireland. She's just so dedicated to the work and so real, and whenever I've seen her, I felt like I've walked out of a human experience.

Audrey Corsa

Kayla Davion

Who she plays: My character is Joanne. She's a mother of four boys, and in the show, she don't play no games. She is very real about the way she feels. She's the comedy of the group, and you get to see her journey through being an activist and being a housewife.

Line that defines her character: "See, this is the thing about you radical women. You get so serious about everything."

Name for the cast: Revolutionaries

Theatre artist who inspires her: NaTasha Yvette Williams, she inspires me so much. She's so strong in herself. She believes in herself, and she's so kind to others. Honestly, she's helped me through my entire Broadway journey.

Kayla Davion

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Kristolyn Lloyd

Who she plays: I play Celeste, and she is an intellectual that shows up to the group. She's from Ohio originally but has been living in New York. She moved out of Ohio for a reason and [came] back to it to take care of her mother. And then, to be seen and felt heard, she decided to join this CR group, and it happens to be a group of mostly white women.

Line that defines her character: One of the [characters] who's from another country goes, "We're the same, you and I." My character's like, "No, we're not the same. You don't know what I actually think."

Name for the cast: Warriors

Theatre artist who inspires her: Kecia Lewis has been a staple in my theatre repertoire since I was a child. I grew up listening to her sing [the part of] Asaka in Once on This Island. When I first came to New York, I don't even remember how I met her, but she started taking me to lunch, and ever since then, she's been a great mentor.

Kristolyn Lloyd

Irene Sofia Lucio

Who she plays: I play Isidora, who is a Sicilian woman. She represents the immigrant [point of view] in the movement and very American play. She's really focused on the actionable steps the movement can take. There's a lot of great rhetoric, but what can we actually do? She, in many ways, is the fuel to the fire of this group. She's full of contradictions, and she's so funny.

Line that defines her character: "Sure, it's nice words. It's nice words. It's not practical is all."

Name for the cast: The Badass Little Engine That Could

Theatre artist who inspires her: I'm from Puerto Rico, so for me, Rita Moreno is the [ultimate]. Chita Rivera. And honestly, I love working with Whitney White and hope I continue to work with Whitney White.

Irene Sofia Lucio

Adina Verson

Who they play: I play Susie Hurricane, who is a pretty radical feminist and pushes the boundaries of what feminism could be, and is a little kooky and delightful.

Line that defines their character: "Really? You did that?" She's a little judgmental.

Name for the cast: The Witches

Theatre artist who inspires them: Sara Ramirez. I love them; I've loved the trajectory of their career along with the trajectory of themselves. Cristin Milioti; huge fan. [They're both] people so dedicated to their craft, and you can sense the love of what they do and the love of self-discovery.

Adina Verson

Charlie Thurston

Who he plays: I play Bill. The challenge with Bill is he's a walking spoiler, so I can't reveal too much. But it's set on a basketball court at a gym in Ohio, and Bill shows up just wanting to play basketball, and then he gets roped into this world. His very presence makes various characters have to recalibrate.

Line that defines his character: "I just like to shoot around a little after work, blow off steam."

Name for the cast: The Hardest-Working Ladies in Showbiz. I'll just exclude myself [...] it's all about the ladies, and they are an incredible group of actors.

Theatre artist who inspires him: Qween Jean, our costume designer, is an amazing human being and incredibly talented artist — and one of the most powerful activists I've ever been in the orbit of.

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Interview excerpts have been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

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Charlie Thurston