benevolent
new york times critic’s pick
Set in 1917, benevolent follows four young women consigned to New York’s Inwood Benevolent Home, a draconian reformatory for fallen and friendless girls.
Forced into drudgery in the basement laundry, the women forge unlikely connections. But when one of them finds herself in trouble, the others must decide what they're willing to risk in order to help her.
Fierce, funny, and frank, benevolent is a piercing illumination of female solidarity: both the intimate places it can be found — and the shocking ways it can be broken.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Playwright & Producer: Sophie McIntosh
Director & Producer: Nina Goodheart
Associate Producer: Sarah Jones
Stage Manager: Damayanti Wallace
Associate Director & Dramaturg: B.T. Hayes
Intimacy & Fight Director: Willow Funkhouser
Assistant Stage Manager: Jenna Rowell
Scenic Designer: Charlotte Shi
Lighting Designer: Paige Seber
Props Designer: Sean Frank
Costume Designer: Saawan Tiwari
Sound Designer: Max Van
Production Electrician: Max Stroeher
Press and Media Relations: Emily Owens PR
CAST
Emma: Mia Fowler*
Abby: Livvy Marcus*
Sarah: Rachel Ravel*
Margaret: Chani Reese
Understudy for Abby, Sarah, and Margaret: Healy Knight*
Understudy for Emma: Morgan S. Perry*
“Each tale of painfully bloodied undergarments is matched by the lusty joy of a secret tryst (who knew washboards could be so erotic?), and parallel scenes of bodily discovery are alternately terrifying and titillating.”
— Juan A. Ramírez, The New York Times
“One of the most bracing plays of the year.”
— By Alex Jhamb Burns, VOGUE
“…intimacy has spontaneous awkwardness and genuine erotic charge.”
— Tony Marinelli, TheatreScene.net
