Read Roma Torre\u2019s \u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606\u2606 review here.<\/a>]<\/p>\nComposed by Jonas in a considerably freer form of drama than Miller\u2019s three-act structure,\u00a0A Woman Among Women\u00a0at times breaks the fourth wall and incorporates live music, dance, odd costume bits and a few relatively easy moments of audience participation, such as rhythmic clapping. Directed by Sarah Cameron Hughes, the production configures the intimate Claire Tow Theater to stage the action for the greater part within an arena space.<\/p>\n
To foster the notion of community even more, a dozen spectators are seated upon chairs partly ringing the performance area that\u2019s carpeted in green to represent Cleo\u2019s backyard. Scenic designer Brittany<\/p>\n
In many ways,\u00a0A Woman Among Women\u00a0is a play about community. Julia May Jonas, the playwright, initially presents a protagonist of worthy reputation who heads a noble organization and is a recognized leader of the community. As long-hidden deceptions and truths eventually are uncovered by members of the group, the protagonist is exposed as a rotten character and shunned by the community.<\/p>\n
Sounds like Greek tragedy, right? In 1947, Arthur Miller produced his modern American version of the genre in\u00a0All My Sons, about an admired industrialist whose defective product sends young men to their deaths. On Thursday night, Lincoln Center Theater\/LCT3 presented\u00a0A Woman Among Women, Jonas\u2019 contemporary feminist variation on the downfall of just such a proud soul and the individuals around her.<\/p>\n
The playwright does not slavishly trace the details of Miller\u2019s plot and people in her 100-minute tribute to classical theater. The central figure is middle-aged Cleo, a good-hearted woman who prospered through hardscrabble times, became a psychologist and established a women\u2019s wellness center she presently leads. Cleo is the mom of two adult daughters, one who works at the center, the other an imprisoned felon for a crime revealed later. The story unfolds in Cleo\u2019s backyard amid a culturally diverse neighborhood where she is recognized as the community matriarch. One sunny afternoon it all goes sour for Cleo, who deserves her fate, more or less.<\/p>\n
Composed by Jonas in a considerably freer form of drama than Miller\u2019s three-act structure,\u00a0A Woman Among Women\u00a0at times breaks the fourth wall and incorporates live music, dance, odd costume bits and a few relatively easy moments of audience participation, such as rhythmic clapping. Directed by Sarah Cameron Hughes, the production configures the intimate Claire Tow Theater to stage the action for the greater part within an arena space.<\/p>\n
To foster the notion of community even more, a dozen spectators are seated upon chairs partly ringing the performance area that\u2019s carpeted in green to represent Cleo\u2019s backyard. Scenic designer Brittany Vasta later will produce a realistic setting that visually references All My Sons; a traditional, well-made drama contrasting sharply and ironically against Jonas\u2019 eclectic playwriting style on display here.<\/p>\n
That said, to my old-school taste, the ambitious\u00a0A Woman Among Women\u00a0registers mostly as a terribly talky, at times even tedious, theater exercise that fails to engage pity or any emotion other than occasional confusion over who some of these people may be and what\u2019s their relationship to the heroine, and why should I care?<\/p>\n
Depicting Cleo as a confident, plain-talking, practical-minded individual who gets ugly under pressure, Dee Pellettier leads a game if uneven nine-member company. Tina Chilip and Brittany K. Allen notably dish out entertaining performances in acting styles more vivid than the others. Jonas can conjure up compelling individuals and quirky dialogue here but fashioning them together into a theater experience of a higher power is something else again.<\/p>\n
The play originally was produced in 2024 in Brooklyn by The Bushwick Starr and New Georges, two distinguished companies that pioneer challenging new works. Imported to LCT\u2019s elegant rooftop venue above the Vivian Beaumont Theater,\u00a0A Woman Among Women\u00a0will appeal most to adventurous playgoers willing to witness up close an ancient story told not especially well.<\/p>\n
A Woman Among Women opened June 4, 2026, at the Claire Tow Theater and runs through June 28. Tickets and information:\u00a0lct.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dee Pelletier (left) and the company of A Woman Among Women. Photo: Maria Baranova In many ways,\u00a0A Woman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-256183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/A_WOMAN_AMONG_sized-1-WOMEN_Baranova-2064.jpg\")
Dee Pelletier (left) and the company of A Woman Among Women. Photo: Maria Baranova<\/p>\n