Lineup Set For WOMEN+ ON THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY World Premiere at the Flynn

 

Some of the actors and directors have been announced who will bring more than 30 Women+ on the Edge of Democracy plays to life for the first time next Saturday, October 24 during an all-day world premiere event at the Flynn in Burlington, Vermont.

Beginning at 11AM that day, the Flynn's Main Stage will present back-to-back performances of every monologue and short play commissioned from Pulitzer, Tony, Emmy, and Obie Award winners to Olivier and Oscar nominees as a reflection on the state of democracy in America. In partnership with The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (Leslie Swackhamer, Executive Director), each play or monologue responds to the questions: What is the current state of democracy in America? What can history, global context, or futurism offer us in this pivotal moment?

Spanning an entire day of dialogue and conversation, the Flynn will welcome more than 20 acclaimed actors of stage and screen to perform the anthology of plays for the very first time, with the company set to include Leslie Ayvazian (Nine Armenians), Tony Award winner Adriane Lenox (Doubt), Tony Award nominee Geneva Carr (Hand to God, 'Bull'), Lortel Award nominee Vanessa Kai (KPOP, 'Kung Fu'), Florencia Lozano ('One Life to Live'), Ellen McLaughlin (Angels in America), Tedra Millan (Leopoldstadt, Present Laughter), Rad Pereira (The Oresteia), and Babak Tafti (English, 'Succession').

Five directors - Zeina Salame, Hana S. Sharif, Leslie Swackhamer, Sharifa Yazmeen, Blanka Zizka - will put their stamp on the various plays presented throughout the day.

Throughout the day, the Flynn lobby will remain open as a place for connection and reflection. Free tickets can be reserved at www.flynnvt.org.

The Flynn joins a total of 102 theaters and organizations so far, across 41 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and as far away as the Isle of Eigg (Scotland) and Tasmania (Australia), who will present plays from the Women+ anthology for free to audiences nationwide, ahead of the U.S. Midterm Elections, from October 23-November 3. Use this map to find an event near you.

Women+ on the Edge of Democracy sets out to form a collective portrait of a nation in doubt and transformation - seen through the eyes of women+ playwrights from around the world who have long chronicled America's contradictions and dreams. The commission welcomes work from across the political spectrum. Through comedy and tragedy, rage and tenderness, hope and fear, these writers will map a picture of America today - revealing how democracy feels to those who have spent their lives giving voice to the unseen and unheard.

All theaters and organizations nationwide are invited to be part of the movement:

STEP 1 - Sign up to participate, or to receive more information, at www.democracy.flynnvt.org.

STEP 2 - The plays will be published in anthology form by Theatre Communications Group on November 4, with pre-orders available now and advance digital copies provided to anyone presenting a reading or performance between October 23 and November 3. Theaters and organizations can choose one play, several, or all 34.

STEP 3 - Between October 23 and November 3, bring people together to read or hear the plays and talk about the questions they raise. Gatherings can be a few friends around a table, a classroom discussion, a community reading, or a fully-staged theater performance.

Approaching fifty years, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the largest and oldest international playwriting prize recognizing and celebrating women+ playwrights writing for the English-speaking theater. The commissioned playwrights include Jane Anderson, Leslie Ayvazian, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Lucy Caldwell, Bridget Carpenter, Paula Cizmar, Migdalia Cruz, Elizabeth 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.

Dramaturgs for the project include Martine Kei Green-Rogers, Sarah Mantell, Amrita Ramanan, Zeina Salame, and Jenny Worton. This project is accompanied by original artwork created by Paula Scher/Pentagram.

ABOUT THE ACTORS

Leslie Ayvazian is an award-winning playwright, actor, and educator whose plays have been produced at major theaters across the country. Her best-known work, Nine Armenians, received the John Gassner/Outer Critics Circle Award, the Roger L. Stevens Award, and Special Commendation from the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She has also performed her own work, including Porcupine Girl, and teaches playwriting at Columbia University. Leslie is one of the playwrights commissioned for Women+ on the Edge of Democracy, making her participation as a performer especially meaningful.

 

Geneva Carr is a Tony Award-nominated actor best known for originating the role of Margery in Robert Askins's Hand to God, which she performed Off-Broadway before bringing it to Broadway. Television audiences will recognize her as Marissa Morgan on the CBS series 'Bull.' Her career spans adventurous new theater and major television productions.

 

Vanessa Kai is a New York-based actor whose stage work includes the world premiere of KPOP, for which she received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination. She is widely recognized for her role as Pei-Ling Zhang in the CW series 'Kung Fu' and has also appeared on 'Elsbeth,' 'Orange Is the New Black,' and 'New Amsterdam.' A committed collaborator in new-play development, she has worked with The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, and other leading institutions.

 

Adriane Lenox is a Tony Award-winning actor whose performance as Mrs. Muller in John Patrick Shanley's Doubt earned her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Her extensive Broadway career also includes After Midnight, for which she received a second Tony nomination. She brings decades of experience across theater, film, and television, with a particular gift for bringing emotional complexity to the stage.

 

Florencia Lozano is an actor and playwright whose extensive stage career includes productions at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public Theater, and New York Theatre Workshop. She is known to television audiences for her longtime role as Téa Delgado on 'One Life to Live,' as well as appearances in 'Narcos' and 'Keep Breathing.' A member of LAByrinth Theater Company, she is also an accomplished writer whose play underneathmybed received the Hispanic Organization of Latino Actors' Best New Play Award.

 

Juliana Aidén Martinez is a Yale-trained actor who starred opposite Sofía Vergara in Netflix's Griselda, earning an Imagen Award nomination for her performance as June Hawkins. She went on to play Detective Kate Silva on 'Law & Order: SVU' and now stars as Special Agent Eva Ramos on CBS's 'FBI.' Her theater credits include To the Bone and Hamlet.

 

Ellen McLaughlin is an acclaimed playwright and actor best known for originating the role of the Angel in Tony Kushner's Angels in America, performing the role from its earliest workshops through its original Broadway run. Her own plays, including The Trojan Women, The Persians, and The Oresteia, have been produced by leading theaters across the country. A winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Ellen is also among the playwrights commissioned for this project.

 

Tedra Millan has appeared on Broadway in Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt and Noël Coward's Present Laughter, opposite Kevin Kline. She originated a role in Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves, sharing in the production's Obie and Drama Desk ensemble honors. Her television credits include 'The Pitt,' 'Fosse/Verdon,' and 'A League of Their Own,' alongside extensive work in contemporary American theater.

 

Rad Pereira is a multidisciplinary performer, director, and cultural organizer whose work moves between theater, social practice, and community engagement. Their performance credits include the world premiere of Ellen McLaughlin's adaptation of The Oresteia at Shakespeare Theatre Company, as well as work with The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, and La MaMa. Rad is also co-author of Meeting the Moment: Socially Engaged Performance, 1965-2020, By Those Who Lived It, and their artistic practice explores the intersections of performance, identity, and social change.

 

Babak Tafti is an actor whose work spans some of the country's leading theaters and acclaimed television series. His stage credits include The Profane at Playwrights Horizons, Small Mouth Sounds, Shakespeare in the Park's Othello, and Sanaz Toossi's English. Television audiences may recognize him from 'Succession,' 'Billions,' and 'Super Pumped.' His extensive experience developing and performing contemporary plays makes him an exciting addition to this company.

 

Erin Wilhelmi is a Broadway and television actor who originated the role of Mayella Ewell in Aaron Sorkin's Broadway adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. Her Broadway credits also include The Crucible and A Doll's House, Part 2. Television audiences may recognize her as Adelheid Weber on HBO's 'The Gilded Age,' and her film credits include The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

ABOUT THE DIRECTORS

Zeina Salame is a director, educator, scholar, and applied theater practitioner who teaches at the University of Vermont. Her directing work includes E. M. Lewis's Apple Hunters! at Artists Repertory Theatre, presented as part of the 2026 Fertile Ground Festival of New Works. Her artistic and scholarly practice explores heritage, identity, embodied knowledge, and the relationship between performance and community. Her participation brings both a strong commitment to contemporary theater and a direct connection to Vermont's artistic and academic community.

 

Hana S. Sharif is an acclaimed director, playwright, producer, and artistic leader whose career has included leadership at Arena Stage, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Hartford Stage, and Baltimore Center Stage. Her work with women playwrights includes directing a developmental reading of Nambi E. Kelley's Sister X and developing new plays by Janine Nabers and Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder. She has also championed world premieres by women playwrights through her artistic leadership, including Dreaming Zenzile, Feeding Beatrice, and House of Joy at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Throughout her career, Hana has worked to expand whose stories are told on American stages and how theater can engage communities in urgent conversations.

 

Leslie Swackhamer is an award-winning theater and opera director and Executive Director of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Flynn's commissioning partner in Women+ on the Edge of Democracy. A lifelong champion of women playwrights, she has developed, directed, served as a dramaturg, and produced more than 100 new works across the country. As a leader of the Prize and a creative partner in this initiative, Leslie has helped bring together this extraordinary collection of playwrights and has been integral to the project's development. She resides in Shelburne, VT.

 

Sharifa Yazmeen is a trans Arab-American playwright and director whose work explores queer and Arab identities and centers stories too often pushed to the margins. Her directing credits include works by Jen Silverman, Naomi Wallace, and Ayad Akhtar, alongside new plays developed through emerging-playwright programs. She brings a distinctive contemporary perspective on identity, belonging, and whose stories are told onstage.

 

Blanka Zizka is the co-founder and former Artistic Director of Philadelphia's Wilma Theater, where she spent four decades establishing one of the country's most adventurous regional theaters. Her world-premiere directing credits include Paula Vogel's Don Juan Comes Home from Iraq, Dael Orlandersmith's Yellowman and Raw Boys, and Christopher Chen's Passage. A recipient of the Vilcek Prize and Zelda Fichandler Award, Blanka is recognized for her bold theatrical vision, collaborative approach to developing new work, and significant influence on contemporary theater.