This program is part of PBS’ summer-long celebration of women trailblazers!
GREAT PERFORMANCES presents the intimate theatrical production “Gloria: A Life” about Gloria Steinem, one of the most inspiring women of the feminist movement, premiering nationwide on Friday, June 26, 2020.
Fifty years after Gloria Steinem began advocating for women’s equality and championing the equality rights of others, her vision remains highly relevant.
Starring Academy, Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Christine Lahti (“Evil,” “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” “Chicago Hope”) as Steinem, the play features an all-women cast playing both male and female roles.
Act one focuses on Steinem’s life and path to activism. Act two consists of a “talking circle” with the audience to discuss the play’s themes, moderated by Gloria Steinem herself.
This unique theatrical format offers a forum for Steinem’s philosophy on the necessity of conversation as a catalyst for change. The New York Times theater critic Jesse Green described the experience as “powerful” and “a kind of place where you’d like to curl up to share stories, and in sharing them, amplify them…. The hope seems contagious.”
GREAT PERFORMANCES “Gloria: A Life” is written by Tony Award nominee Emily Mann (Best Direction of a Play, “Having Our Say”), directed for the stage by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus (Best Direction of a Musical, “Pippin”) and produced by Pulitzer Prize- and 10-time Tony-winning producer Daryl Roth (“Angels in America,” “Hello, Dolly!”).
Christine Lahti Statement:
“Gloria Steinem saved my life in the early 70s. She helped give me feminism, which became a life jacket for me to navigate through a world that didn’t like or respect women very much. It was one of the greatest honors of my life to play her in 'Gloria: A Life.' I feel it’s illuminating, for young people especially, to see how someone like Gloria, who was ‘unwoke’ until she was 35—and survived a difficult childhood with a mother who she felt didn’t matter—could become a world leader who has dedicated herself to making sure all women matter. If she can do it, anyone can do it! This play also teaches us how many extraordinary black women were responsible in teaching Gloria about feminism; and that second wave feminism was NOT primarily founded by white women. In addition, it explores how much feminism can help men free themselves from the straitjacket of patriarchal masculinity. Her story is inspiring, complex and completely relatable. And as Gloria stated early on in the development of this play, if the first act is going to be about her, then the second act has to be about the audience. The talking circle that is the second act of 'Gloria: A Life' is equally as moving as people tell their own stories. As Gloria always says, there is healing in the telling.”
A CELEBRATION OF TRAILBLAZING WOMEN
Join KPBS’s summer-long celebration of women trailblazers in honor of the women’s vote centennial, featuring special programming commemorating U.S. women’s suffrage, the feminist movement and modern-day changemakers.
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Credits:
A production of THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET in association with Daryl Roth Productions. Directed for television by David Horn. Mitch Owgang is producer. Bill O’Donnell is series producer and David Horn is executive producer.
