benevolent
Rachel Ravel and Libby Marcus
Published September 5, 2026
The year is 1917 New York, but it could be 2026. Women are scrubbing laundry by hand on washboards – perhaps because washing machines haven’t been invented yet or perhaps because they’re traditional women who prefer to do things the old-fashioned way. These women have been stripped of their reproductive rights and physical autonomy as punishment for having behaved in ways deemed inappropriate for ladies. Again, 1917 or 2026.
It’s this timelessness that drives benevolent, the latest play by Sophie McIntosh, an incisive explorer of female dynamics. Receiving its world-premiere production with Good Apples Collective at IATI Theater, McIntosh and frequent collaborator Nina Goodhear resolutely explore the meaning and motivation of being and doing good while female.
Staged in the suffocating laundry room of the Benevolent Home, benevolent follows four young women serving six-month sentences in the “charitable home” as punishment for their social misbehavior. Margaret (Chani Reese) is a sex worker, as is Emma (Mia Fowler) – but she only cost 50 cents while Margaret’s price was $10. Sarah (Rachel Ravel) was arrested for “panhandling” – singing in public on the Coney Island boardwalk – and Abby (Livvy Marcus) is the naïve teenage daughter of a wealthy family who is serving time for simply having been caught alone with her equally wealthy boyfriend.
Mia Folwer, Rachel Ravel and Libby Marcus
Each of the quartet is pragmatic about their circumstances, planning on serving their time and move on, although they are not sure where – there are limited options for a “fallen woman”. The girls mention sexual assault casually, in passing, along with families that abandoned them or childbirth that turns out to be fatal. They aren’t drawn together in a grand act of rebellion but rather helping each other to maintain simple, everyday survival. But as quickly as these alliances are formed, they are broken. Even Abby’s guilelessness masks a darker side.
McIntosh’s presentation is neither didactic nor dramatic, relying on trust in the material and the intelligent harmony of the cast. The four actresses, each individually outstanding, also come together as an ensemble as they develop camaraderie and even affection for each other.
Saawan Tiwari’s costumes clothe each of them in shapeless, drab pink and white uniforms, but each of the women individualize them in small but noticeable ways that stand out from scenic designer Charlotte Shi’s grimy set consisting of mountains of laundry that enclose them like an electric fence. The horror evoked by the setting is enhanced by Paige Seber’s lighting and Max Van’s sound design.
benevolent inspires reflections on laws and morals, on societal regressions that render the wealthy capable of cleansing their reputations through supposedly charitable acts and on what people will do to control women and what women will do to keep any control to themselves. But the story is deeply human, inspiring investment in these women and their lives, even if it resembles both a history lesson and segment on tonight’s news.