Hungry Women – 23 July 2026

A femme-forward depiction of rage and truth, Hungry Women explores the idea of a male-free world, starting from day one, then one hundred years later, then a hundred years after that. It begins in 1891 in the Victorian Era, in the wake of an unknown global phenomenon that caused all of the men in the world to drop dead. Mirroring conversations a century prior about eating the rich, this segment focuses on the potential empowerment of eating (unkind) husbands. A century later, the next segment finds a substitute teacher being convinced by the pupils that they should hold a seance and summon men who can inform them about the erased history prior to 1891. The third segment takes place at the height of the bureaucracy as world leaders must confront the possibility of reintroducing men into the world and whether or not they should be offered a seat at the table. As a whole, Hungry Women explores deep philosophical questions with genuineness and curiosity, particularly the seminal question of whether a world ruled by women would be any better than a world ruled by men.

In each scene, the actresses play different characters whose names start with the same letter, though it is implied in the middle segment that these characters may be the descendants of the original characters. On the R Track, playing Ruth, Rebecca, and Regina is Broadway’s own Julia Lester. The M Track (Mary, Melanie, and Miranda) is performed by up-and-coming Zoe Dean. Drag artist Mariyea shines on the E Track as Eden, Elizabeth, and Eleanor. Finally, the V Track (Vic, Valerie, and Violet) features actress and playwright Sophie Zmorrod. In each successive scene, the characters’ roles are somewhat the same. The R Track is married to the way things have previously been done. The M Track is primarily defined by having a societally unacceptable sexual orientation and being willing to open the Pandora’s box to curiosity. The E Track says the things no one is willing to say– namely is willing to openly criticize society as it is. Finally, the V Track is the pivotal role– literally. The V Track characters are the agents of change who boldly defy the status quo and lead the way into the next iteration of the world. This spectrum remains consistent throughout the play. 

In every scene, the V Track prevails and a new world emerges. But is that new world better? A world that indulges in cannibalism? A world built on the discoveries of men while erasing their history? A world that easily dismisses its highest leader’s willingness to stab a pregnant woman to kill an unborn baby? Is this about liberation or vengeance? Past the point where future generations have no idea what men are, were, or could be, should they be blindly championing men’s extinction and assuming that it is right to continue it? In the final scene, lots of arguments are posited. Men can’t be any more than they were in the past. Or maybe they can be taught, if raised in a society dominated by women. Maybe it’s foolish to reintroduce a population that was essentially predatory. Or maybe it’s essential to emancipate women from being forced to perpetuate the species. It’s definitely food for thought.

The experience of watching this performance is engaging, though towards the end some of the archetypes feel a little tired. The final scene had too many false endings, and though the nod to the beginning with the eating rhetoric was a nice, full-circle moment, I personally think that the first baby monitor moment depicting a living, male baby should have been the final moment. It would have left the audience with a lot more space to have their own thoughts rather than the ones handed to them by the pedantic ending. The pregnancy ruse as a vehicle to show how brutally women had come to view bodies– their own and each other’s– landed strongly, and it would have been a greater topic for conversation if playwright Melissa Maney had let go of the perceived need to connect back to the beginning.

I went to an early preview. Lighting (Annie Garrett-Larsen) didn’t feel fully finished, and sound (Chris Verde) was a little bit of a struggle, particularly with the pitch-shifted men’s voices in the seance scene. In what I can only assume was an effort to make the men’s voices more distinguishable from each other, Verde sacrificed clarity. The voices were very hard to understand. Scenic/projection (Qingan Zhang) and costumes (Olivia Vaughn Hern) felt much more finished and well thought out. Each track had a costume color that ran through until they became indistinguishable judges at the end. The direction (Daniella Caggiano) was pristine, really squeezing all of the juice out of Melissa Maney’s script. I encourage all who are hungry for big questions about gender and cruelty to come to SoHo Playhouse and take a bite.

I attended this performance on a press pass from Kampfire PR.