The writing prompt was deceptively simple yet vast in scope: Compose a new 10-minute play that answers the question “What is the current state of democracy in America?” The deadline: two months, preposterously short for one playwright, let alone 34 with busy careers in professional theater and national, if not global, reputations.
On Saturday, October 24, the Flynn in Burlington will host a free daylong reading of all 34 plays, collectively titled Women+ on the Edge of Democracy, penned by some of the most accomplished writers in American theater and beyond. Those invited to submit were all winners or finalists of the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the oldest, largest and one of the most prestigious awards for women, trans and nonbinary playwrights in the English language. Their ranks include Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winners; the actors who will perform the plays include Tony winners and finalists as well. Similar readings, performances and discussion groups will happen around the country and worldwide in the two weeks leading up to the U.S. midterm elections on November 3.
Women+ on the Edge of Democracy was the brainchild of Flynn executive director Jay Wahl and Shelburne stage director and educator Leslie Swackhamer, who is also executive director of the Blackburn Prize. Given the precarious state of American democracy, “Both of us were banging our heads against the wall trying to figure out: How do we use our art form … to make the world a better place?” Swackhamer said.
Though Wahl said he initially expected only six or seven playwrights to sign up, he knew they had tapped into something special when their number exceeded 30.
“This election is an opportunity for us to think about what kind of democracy we have, what does it mean to us and what it can look like,” Wahl said.
The star-studded lineup of playwrights includes Lynn Nottage, the only woman to have won two Pulitzers for drama; Beth Henley, a Pulitzer winner and Tony nominee; Heidi Schreck, a Pulitzer and Tony finalist; and Lauren Gunderson, the most produced playwright in the U.S.
“We didn’t want it to just happen at the Flynn,” Swackhamer added. “We were like, ‘Listen to all these voices. This can be a wonderful vehicle for communities to gather around this theme, to talk, to discuss and to bond right before the midterms.’”
More than 100 groups in 40 states have agreed to perform Women+ on the Edge of Democracy events, including in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Alaska. Town Hall Theater in Middlebury will present a free, one-hour version on Sunday, November 1. Other venues include town halls, high schools, colleges and Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia. Performances are also scheduled in Tasmania, Australia, and Glasgow, Scotland, as well as the Isle of Eigg, a Scottish island with a population of about 100. All will be held between October 24 and November 3, aka U.S. Election Day.
Women+ on the Edge of Democracy will likely run for 12 hours; at the Flynn it’s scheduled from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. with frequent pauses and a dinner break. As Wahl explained, its marathon duration is part of the point, capturing the effort of listening to others to maintain a healthy democracy.
“This asks something different of an audience,” he said. “This asks you to sit with these questions together, with people you don’t know, for a full day, which is in the spirit of how Vermonters work together.”
Though the production had the potential to be 12 hours of crushingly depressing theater, Swackhamer insisted that themes run the gamut from heartbreaking to humorous and satirical to uplifting. Paula Cizmar’s “The Betsy Ross Book of the Dead” imagines the Revolutionary War upholsterer in the underworld sewing an American flag while in conversation with her AI assistant. Another play, by British playwright Elizabeth Kuti, features the ghost of a Hungarian Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust by becoming an ostrich. Schreck, who wrote the critically acclaimed autobiographical play What the Constitution Means to Me, penned an addendum to that play, in which her mother chides her for her omissions from the original script. Other plays feature a monologue with a clown, dolls that come to life and a story about bees. Costumes, sets and props will be “extremely minimalistic,” Swackhamer said.
People will recognize themselves — and each other, and their families and communities — in these plays.
Zeina Salame
In all, the production involves the work of five dramaturges, five directors and 20 actors, plus stage and lighting crew who number in the hundreds. In keeping with the show’s democratic themes, Wahl said, all involved are being paid the same amount, and tickets are free.
Despite the varied artistic approaches, the shows feature some recurring themes, said Zeina Salame, an associate professor and resident director at the University of Vermont who serves as a dramaturge and director of six of the plays. Many, she said, involve people wrestling with the grief of what is being taken from them, families being torn apart by different points of view and people struggling to recover from profound loss. But the plays are also about their resilience, hope, tenderness and self-reflection.
“There is a point of entry for every human being who cares about this issue,” Salame added. “People will recognize themselves — and each other, and their families and communities — in these plays.”
Swackhamer likened the show to the “Pieced Centennial Flag Print Quilt” in Shelburne Museum, an antique bedcover made to commemorate the 1876 U.S. Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia.
“Every piece had a different focus and emphasis and flavor,” she said. “But then you put them all together, and it was a collective portrait of America at that moment. That’s what I feel this is.”
The show’s logo was designed, pro bono, by Paula Scher, one of the most influential graphic designers in the world. Scher is known for her work for Tiffany & Co., Citibank, Disney, Coca-Cola, Swatch and CNN.
All 34 plays will be published later as an anthology and offered to anyone who wants to use them in their community. The only caveat: The readings or performances must be free to the public. ➆
The original print version of this article was headlined “Freedom Writers | The Flynn premieres a free daylong reading of new plays on the state of American democracy”
This article appears in The Tech Issue • 2026.
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