A Collective Portrait of a Nation in Doubt and Transformation
Featuring More Than 30 Timely New Plays By Acclaimed Women+ Playwrights From Around the World
Nonprofit Theaters Can Produce Readings or Performances Free of Charge Between October 23-November 3
Theaters & Organizations Can Sign Up Now to Join The Movement
(Burlington, VT – August 26, 2026) Jay Wahl, Executive Director of the Flynn Center in Vermont, is thrilled to announce that Theatre Communications Group will publish Women+ on the Edge of Democracy, an anthology of more than thirty plays from prominent women+ playwrights commissioned as a reflection on the state of democracy in America during the country’s semiquincentennial year.
In partnership with The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (Leslie Swackhamer, Executive Director), these short plays and monologues from Pulitzer, Tony and Emmy Award winners to Olivier and Oscar nominees respond 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?
The anthology will be available for pre-order in September ahead of its publication date of November 3, 2026. Advance digital copies of the plays will also be provided to theaters presenting a reading or performance of Women+ on the Edge of Democracy this fall. Performance rights will be waived for all nonprofit organizations across the country who stage any of the plays free of charge to the public between October 23–November 3, ahead of the U.S. Midterm Elections.
“Theatre has always given us a space to wrestle with the most urgent questions of our time, and Women+ on the Edge of Democracy brings together an extraordinary group of playwrights doing exactly that,” said Alisha Tonsic, Co-Executive Director of Theatre Communications Group. “TCG is proud to collaborate on the publication of this collection and ensure these works reach theatres and communities across the country at a moment when civic gathering, questioning, and imagining together feel especially vital.”
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.
Theaters and organizations nationwide are signing on to be part of the Women+ movement:
Rachel Burttram (she/her) of tiny_Theater (Birmingham, Alabama) said, “Theater and democracy share the exact same root: they both began when citizens gathered in a semi-circle to listen to opposing viewpoints and seek a shared truth. In homes across Birmingham, we’re honoring that ancient tradition. By offering a welcome, a reading, and an opportunity for discussion over food, tiny_Theatre is creating intimate spaces to contemplate, consider, and really listen to the person sitting next to us. In partnership with our local collaborators, we are proud to produce all thirty-six plays right here in Alabama, rebuilding our civic fabric one living room at a time.”
Desireé Clarke Miller (she/her), Executive Artistic Director of MOXIE Theatre (San Diego, California) said, “MOXIE Theatre is organizing the reading of the entire anthology across San Diego County because these plays land in the twelve days before a midterm election and that timing isn’t decoration, it’s the point. People keep asking why we’re being so audacious about it, and I’d turn the question around: what would a proportionate response look like? I’ve spent much of my career creating spaces where women+ voices are the center of the story, not the footnote. This is that work with the volume all the way up. Democracy is a practice, not a possession, and it only survives in rooms where people show up for each other. So we’re building as many of those rooms as we can.”
Melissa Crespo (she/her), Associate Artistic Director of Syracuse Stage (Syracuse, New York) said, “The Women+ on the Edge of Democracy initiative immediately spoke to us because it creates a space for artists and community members to come together and consider what democracy means in our lives today. As the United States celebrates its semiquincentennial, there is no better time to engage in those conversations. Syracuse Stage, Redhouse Arts Center, Breadcrumbs Productions, and Syracuse University’s Department of Drama are proud to partner on this initiative and to celebrate not only the privilege of democracy, but the responsibility we share in sustaining it. Where better for citizens to gather, reflect, and engage in a free society than the theatre?”
The marathon world premiere of Women+ on the Edge of Democracy will take place at the Flynn in Burlington, Vermont in October, with more information to be announced soon.
Visit www.democracy.flynnvt.org to sign up for more information.
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, Moira Buffini, Lucy Caldwell, Bridget Carpenter, Paula Cizmar, Migdalia Cruz, Erika Dickerson-Despenza, 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 FLYNN
Located in Burlington, VT, the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts invites everyone to imagine, create, and connect through the power of live performance. An acclaimed theater and performance center since 1930, the Flynn presents a broad array of artistic forms that reach 1 in 4 Vermonters annually. The Flynn’s facilities include a 1,439-seat Main Stage theater, Flynn Space (a black-box performance venue), education and dance studios, and a visual art gallery. Throughout its 30+ years as a nonprofit organization, the Flynn has earned a national reputation for presenting theater, jazz, and dance — performances that were previously rare in a small, rural state. Today, The Flynn is also a statewide leader in performing arts education, presenting art in public spaces, and producing innovative works that open new ways of seeing, dreaming, and being.
Through bold, accessible, and expansive programming, the Flynn is continually pushing beyond the bounds of its physical spaces, taking performances into parks, outdoor marketplaces, schools, and farms across Vermont – engaging, challenging, and re-imaging what the performing arts can look like. Guest curators have helped to bring new perspectives to performance series, and partnerships with nonprofits and other arts organizations have further expanded community impact.
In the 2025/26 season, the Flynn hosted 148,000 people at 259 performances and events, including on the mainstage, at the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, and in education programming, free community events, and Student Matinee shows. The Flynn is a cultural anchor for Vermont, presenting diverse, high-quality artistic experiences that celebrate global perspectives, elevate local voices, and invite the entire community to take part in the transformative power of live performance.
ABOUT THE SUSAN SMITH BLACKBURN PRIZE
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the largest and oldest international award recognizing women+ writers for plays of outstanding quality written for the English-speaking theatre. For nearly fifty years, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has recognized the most visionary women writing for the stage—artists whose voices have defined and redefined contemporary theatre. Past Winners of the Prize include Annie Baker, Alice Birch, Benedict Lombe, Julia Cho, Caryl Churchill, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Katori Hall, Lucy Kirkwood, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, Dael Orlandersmith, Lucy Prebble, Sarah Ruhl, Paula Vogel, Wendy Wasserstein and Timberlake Wertenbaker.
Since 1978, over 500 plays have been honored as Finalists of the Prize and many have gone on to receive top honors, including Olivier, Lilly, Evening Standard and Tony Awards for Best Play. Twelve Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist playwrights have subsequently won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. The Prize results in more productions of plays by women+ writers and fosters the interchange of plays among the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and other English-speaking countries.
ABOUT THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 750 organizations (including member theatres, affiliates, universities) and over 3,000 individual members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year. TCG offers networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG’s partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 21 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. TCG believes its vision of “a better world for theatre, and a better world because of theatre” can be achieved through individual and collective action, adaptive and responsive leadership, and equitable representation in all areas of practice. TCG is led by co-Executive Directors Emilya Cachapero, LaTeshia Ellerson, and Alisha Tonsic. www.tcg.org.