From Theaters to Living Rooms: Women+ Playwrights Take on Democracy Ahead of Election Day

Tomorrow, theaters, community groups, and other organizations across the country will begin presenting short plays about democracy by women+ playwrights. The project, entitled Women+ on the Edge of Democracy and spearheaded by the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in partnership with the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, enlisted 34 women+ playwrights to write the plays.

"Democracy is our largest shared public space," Flynn Center Executive Director Jay Wahl stated. "It depends on our willingness to gather, listen to one another, encounter different perspectives, and imagine a future together. These are the habits that democracy requires, and the arts give us a way to practice them."

Wahl came up with the idea and then brought it to the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize folks to help enlist playwrights. The playwrights that ended up participating are: Jane Anderson, Leslie Ayvazian, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Lucy Caldwell, Bridget Carpenter, Paula Cizmar, Migdalia Cruz, lizabeth Diggs, Hannah Doran, Stella Feehily, Lauren M. Gunderson, Zinnie Harris, Justice Hehir, Beth Henley, Elizabeth Kuti, Haruna Lee, Kimber Lee, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Lisa Loomer, Sarah Mantell, Deb Margolin, Ellen McLaughlin, Susan Miller, Rona Munro, Lynn Nottage, Ife Olujobi, Dael Orlandersmith, a.k. payne, Heather Raffo, Sarah Ruhl, Heidi Schreck, Jenny Schwartz, Judith Thompson, and Else Went. (Moira Buffini and Erika Dickerson-Despenza, originally announced to participate, did not end up being part of the anthology.) The authors were offered an honorarium, but were asked to waive royalties so that groups could stage the plays for free.

Gunderson, a Blackburn Prize finalist for I and You, at first worried that she wouldn't be able to get a play done in the time allowed, but then inspiration struck. Her play was inspired by a quote from Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism and focuses on two people viciously barking at each other online who find some way to heal their rupture through theater.

"I am so grateful to be a part of something that feels urgent and accelerated and responsive to this exact moment," Gunderson said.

There are 44 states presenting at least one of the plays, as well as Washington, D.C., Canada, Ireland, Scotland, and Tasmania.

"They're bringing these plays into theaters, libraries, classrooms, community centers, and even living rooms," explained Wahl. "You don't need to be a theater company to participate. You just need to bring people together. Each community chooses the plays that speak to them and makes the conversation its own."

Gunderson said she hoped to host a reading of her play at her place in Chicago, where one of her plays is about to premiere. Others, who didn't author a play, can find them easily online and present them for free. Flynn is doing an all-day festival of them on October 24, but the project's real impact will be across the country, with presentations from October 23 through Election Day, November 3, a day on which democracy will be in practice. (One or two organizations started early with their presentations; for example, the Bechdel Project had a reading yesterday in Brooklyn. But the official start is tomorrow.)

Women+ on the Edge of Democracy is far from the only way theater artists have been trying to respond to our current time. For example, a couple of weeks ago Under Siege, a collaborative theater piece curated by playwrights Lynn Nottage and Dominique Morisseau, was presented at the Studio Museum in Harlem. However, Women+ on the Edge of Democracy does seem to be the biggest effort in 2026.

You can check out a play reading near you by using a map on the Flynn site. If nothing else, it's a great way to see a play by an acclaimed playwright for free.

Correction: While a press agent for Women+ on the Edge of Democracy originally said the playwrights received no compensation, she later stated they received an honorarium. The story has been updated to reflect this fact.