Hi, everyone. I'm Sarah Jenks-Daily, supervising producer at Late Night, and welcome to our winter semester episode of Late Night Lit. On this episode, we speak with Tony-nominated playwright and writer Bess Wull, whose moving play, Liberation, is on Broadway now.

We'll also hear from acclaimed author Zadie Smith.

First, her interview on Late Night from this past fall, and then, when she joined me

backstage to chat a bit more.

Lastly, we're joined by Seth's mom, Hillary Myers, who highlights a couple of her favorites from what she read this past year.

Bess Woll is an award-winning writer and Tony-nominated playwright,

whose latest work, Liberation, is playing on Broadway now at the James Earl Jones Theater. The play

shifts between two different periods. One, in the 1970s, when a group of women gather in a

rec room to form an activism group. And the second, present day, where the narrator Lizzie

explores what that group achieved and what role her mother played in it.

Susanna Flood, who plays both Lizzie and her mother,

anchors the cast in what is truly a spectacular production.

Beth speaks to us about the origin of the story

and her interest in writing about the relationships

between mothers and daughters.

We also chat about

some of the lessons she learned during the transfer from off-Broadway to the Broadway stage,

the challenges of putting the metaphorical pencil down when it comes to playwriting, and what the

audience reactions have been when the show returns from intermission and the actresses undress

on stage. Spoiler alert, the majority of the audiences have been very well behaved.

Now here's my conversation with Bess Woll.

We're here with Bess Woll, whose fantastic play Liberation premiered on Broadway in October.

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