In many ways, A Woman Among Women is 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.
Sounds like Greek tragedy, right? In 1947, Arthur Miller produced his modern American version of the genre in All My Sons, about an admired industrialist whose defective product sends young men to their deaths. On Thursday night, Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 presented A Woman Among Women, Jonas’ contemporary feminist variation on the downfall of just such a proud soul and the individuals around her.
The playwright does not slavishly trace the details of Miller’s 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’s 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’s 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.
[Read Roma Torre’s ★★☆☆☆ review here.]
Composed by Jonas in a considerably freer form of drama than Miller’s three-act structure, A Woman Among Women at 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.
To foster the notion of community even more, a dozen spectators are seated upon chairs partly ringing the performance area that’s carpeted in green to represent Cleo’s 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’ eclectic playwriting style on display here.
That said, to my old-school taste, the ambitious A Woman Among Women registers 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’s their relationship to the heroine, and why should I care?
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.
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’s elegant rooftop venue above the Vivian Beaumont Theater, A Woman Among Women will appeal most to adventurous playgoers willing to witness up close an ancient story told not especially well.
A Woman Among Women opened June 4, 2026, at the Claire Tow Theater and runs through June 28. Tickets and information: lct.org
