Folktales Featuring Women

These aren’t everyday damsels in distress. In many Western folktales, women play a passive role – but there are a handful of stories in which women play central, active parts. Some traditional tales tell the stories of women who work within the boundaries of a rigid hierarchy to achieve their goals. Here’s a collection of plays and musicals, based on folktales, in which women meet challenges with wit, humor and charm.

Bella: An American Tall Tale by Kirsten Childs (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5w, 7m)
When Bella boards a train west to reunite with her Buffalo soldier sweetheart, she encounters the most colorful and lively characters ever to roam the Western plains. Bullets and fists will fly, heads and hearts will break, but – blessed with a big heart and a voluptuous figure – Bella will breeze on through it all.

Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca, Carmen Zapata & Michael Dewell (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 9w, 9m)
This translation of García Lorca’s landmark 1932 play is a classic and passionate lover’s tragedy. In this earthy and poetic drama, a grieving mother arranges the marriage of her only surviving son, setting off a series of conflicts and adventures for the story’s young lovers.

Covenant by York Walker (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 1m)
Two years after his sudden disappearance, struggling guitarist Johnny “Honeycomb” James returns to his small town a blues star, sparking rumors among four women that he made a deal with the devil. Inspired by the myth of Robert Johnson, this haunting, Gothic play explores the power of belief and tests the thin veil between rumor and truth.

Dark of the Moon by William Berney and Howard Richardson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 12w, 10m)
Based on the haunting Scottish folk song “The Ballad of Barbara Allen,” this earthy and imaginative Broadway hit – a unique blend of Appalachian storytelling and gothic spiritualism – takes place in a Smoky Mountain community, where a strange “witch boy” falls in love with a beautiful human girl named Barbara Allen, raising anger and fear among their superstitious neighbors.

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 5m)
Sarah Ruhl reimagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love. With contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists, and breathtaking visual effects, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story.

Free to Be… You and Me by Marlo Thomas and Friends (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 2w, 2m, 6 any gender)
Life-enhancing themes are imaginatively blended with melody and humor in this inspirational musical revue. In one sequence, the crafty princess Atalanta challenges a would-be suitor to a footrace, and, after keeping apace with the champion, determines her own future.

Hadestown: Teen Edition by Anaïs Mitchell (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 5w, 3m)
This intriguing and beautiful folk opera delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience. Following two intertwining love stories — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of immortal King Hades and Lady Persephone — Hadestown invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back.

If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka by Tori Sampson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 5w, 2m, 1 any gender)
Combining West African folklore and contemporary American culture, If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must be a Muhfucka follows four teenage girls as they grapple with societal definitions of beauty. In the fictional setting of Affreakah-Amirrorkah, the four young women – Kaya, Massassi, Adama and Akim – are given an opportunity to live in a society where their individual beauty can reign supreme. But this opportunity comes at a dangerous cost.

Is God Is by Aleshea Harris (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4w, 4m)
Is God Is is a modern myth about twin sisters who sojourn from the Dirty South to the California desert to exact righteous revenge. Winner of the 2016 Relentless Award, Aleshea Harris collides the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western and Afropunk in this darkly funny and unapologetic play.

Jasper in Deadland by Hunter Foster and Ryan Scott Oliver (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 4w, 5m)
In one night of teenage passion, Jasper and Agnes consummate a years-long friendship. But in the morning Agnes is gone, telling Jasper to meet her at their cliff. When he arrives there’s no sign of his best friend, only a swirling vortex to another world in the water below. Jasper dives into Deadland.

Lady Precious Stream by S.I. Hsiung (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 8w, 13m)
Lady Precious Stream is a beautiful, romantic drama of love, fidelity, treachery, and poetry presented in the style of traditional Chinese theatre. Set under the Tang Dynasty, the story depicts the devotion of a wife for her adventurous husband, his prowess as a warrior, and his ultimate return home.

Marian, or The True Tale of Robin Hood by Adam Szymkowicz (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 4m, 6 any gender)
A gender-bending, patriarchy-smashing, hilarious new take on the classic tale. Robin Hood is (and has always been) Maid Marian in disguise, and leads a motley group of Merry Men (few of whom are actually men) against the greedy Prince John. As the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, who will stand for the vulnerable if not Robin?

Mirror, Mirror by Sarah Treem (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 5w, 6m)
In this dark comedy based on Snow White, ten teenagers love, lose, betray and revenge each other over one autumnal weekend in a kingdom far, far away. It’s a precarious landscape where magic lurks behind make-up, mirrors and memories.

Mojada by Luis Alfaro (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 1m, 1 any gender youth)
Medea and Jason have escaped the worst. After a harrowing journey across the Mexican-American border, the couple has made it safely to the States, where they can work toward a better life for their family. While Jason is convinced the future looks bright, Medea fears a darker fate as they face the challenges of living without documentation. Blending Euripides’ classic with Mexican folklore, Luis Alfaro examines the tragedy behind America’s immigration system and the destiny of one family caught in its grip.

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story by Hannah Moscovitch, Christian Barry and Ben Caplan (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 1w, 2m)
A humorously dark folk tale woven together with a high-energy concert in a music/theatre hybrid. Featuring Klezmer music, this show is inspired by the true stories of Jewish Romanian refugees coming to Canada in 1908. It’s about how to love after being broken by the horrors of war; it’s also about looking into the eyes of God.

Penelope by Alex Bechtel, Grace McLean and Eva Steinmetz (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 1w)
Blending sharp humor with a folk-pop score, this modern retelling of The Odyssey gives Penelope a voice as she awaits her husband’s return, moving through her loneliness to discover her own strength.

Rights of Passage by Robert Leone and Ed Decker (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 6m)
Mixing traditional forms of storytelling, including puppetry, mask and dance, with modern devices such as digital media, the play nimbly explores the struggle that each of us faces in establishing our identity and living in a way that is true to ourselves. From the central story of Wayan’s journey, the play expands to tell true stories of LGBTQ struggles and triumphs from around the world.

Robin Hood by Laura Dockrill, Hugo White and Ned Rudkins-Stow (UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 4m)
This hilarious new adaptation, created with a female or non-binary performer in mind for the titular role, is written by acclaimed children’s author Laura Dockrill. Robin Hood returns home to find the greedy Sheriff of Nottingham starving the local people of Sherwood Forest. Courageous, kind and headstrong, Robin, joined by a host of lively friends, sets off on a mission to steal from the rich and give to the poor.

S Gunter Klaus & the Story Before by Jon Ferguson and John Heimbuch (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 11 any gender)
In a remote village at the edge of the world, a lonely coal vendor is engaged in an epic battle with the darkness of winter. This magical story combines ancient Scandinavian folklore with tales of adventure and discovery to unearth the true origins of Santa Claus.

String by Adam Gwon and Sarah Hammond (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 4w, 2m + ensemble)
After angering Zeus, the Fates – the goddess sisters who spin, measure and snip the strings of life for every human on Earth – find themselves banished to a modern office building in the mortal world, where they continue their work hidden among the mortals whose destinies they weave into one giant, glorious tapestry. An original, uplifting and belty musical about fate, love and what makes us human.

Sword Against the Sea by Arthurt Feinsod and William Butler Yeats (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 4m)
An adaptation of William Butler Yeats’ six one-act plays and some of his most stirring poems about the Celtic hero Cuchulain, arranged in the chronological order of Cuchulain’s life and drawing exclusively on Yeats’ own magnificent poetry. This adaptation calls for collaborations among different kinds of artists in the creation of masks, the use of dance, and the possibility of including instrumental and sung music.

The Council by William S. Yellowrobe (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 4m)
This ensemble play tells the story about how humankind was able to evolve with the help of the nations of animals that lived in harmony with one another. However, the nation grows, their harmony with animals quickly diminishes. A fable that inspects humanity’s relationship to nature. The women in this piece embody a whole host of beings – from a condor to an eagle to a water buffalo calf to a whale as well as humans.

The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls by Meg Miroshnik (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 6w)
Once upon a time – in 2005 – a 20-year-old girl named Annie returned to her native Russia to brush up on the language and lose her American accent. Underneath a glamorous Post-Soviet Moscow studded with dangerously high heels, designer bags, and luxe fur coats, she discovers an enchanted motherland teeming with evil stepmothers, wicked witches, and ravenous bears. Annie must learn how to become the heroine of a story more mysterious and treacherous than any childhood fairy tale: her own. This subversive story haunts the audience and carries a powerful message for young women living in a world where not everything ends up happily ever after.  

The Grinning Man by Carl Grose, Tom Morris, Tim Phillips and Marc Teitler (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 5w, 7m)
A fairytale love story streaked with pitch-black humor, lashings of Gothic horror and swashbuckling adventure. A strange new act has arrived at Trafalgar Fair’s freakshow – The Grinning Man himself. Who is he, and how did he get his hideous smile? Women feature heavily in this tale – from Dea, a blind girl who becomes Grinpayne’s closest companion to the hedonistic Duchess Josiana and lonely Princess Angelica, amongst others.

The Hatmaker’s Wife by Lauren Yee (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 3m)
When a young woman moves in with her boyfriend expecting domestic bliss, their new house reveals the magical tale of its previous inhabitants: an old hat-maker and his long-suffering wife, who runs away with his favorite hat. This sweet and surreal story bends time and space to redefine the idea of family, home and true love itself.

The Last of the Dragons by Kristin Walter (US)
(Short Play, Comedy / 2w, 3m, 1 any gender)
In the kingdom of Middlefield, there is a tradition: On a princess’ sixteenth birthday, she is tied to a rock, kidnapped by a dragon, rescued by a prince and lives happily ever after. But what happens when the prince is too afraid to fight, the princess wants to do the rescuing by herself, and the dragon is nowhere to be found? Adapted from the story by Edith Nesbit, The Last of the Dragons tells a tale of bravery, intelligence and unexpected friendship.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Eamonn O’Dwyer and Helen Watts (UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 8w, 10m)
Based on Washington Irving’s infamous short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a powerful and atmospheric musical by Helen Watts and Eamonn O’Dwyer. It is a story of community; a story of faith, of blood and belief; a story that asks the simple question: What happens when good people make bad choices?

The Old Man and the Old Moon by PigPen Theatre Co. (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 7 any gender + ensemble)
An old man must abandon his duties of filling up the moon with light to cross the seas in search of his missing wife in this imaginative sea-faring epic, encompassing apocalyptic storms, civil wars, leviathans of the deep, cantankerous ghosts and the fiercest obstacle of all: change. This story can be staged in as many ways as it can be imagined.

The River Bride by Marisela Treviño Orta (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 3m)
Three days before a wedding, a handsome and mysterious man is fished from the Amazon River. Set once upon a time in a small Brazilian fishing village, The River Bride is a tale of true love, regret and two sisters who struggle to be true to each other and their hearts.

The Secret in the Wings by Mary Zimmerman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 5m + ensemble)
Mary Zimmerman’s The Secret in the Wings adapts a group of lesser-known fairy tales to create a theatrical work that sets their dark mystery against her signature wit and humor. Set in a basement that is also an enchanted forest, the framing story features a child and a frightening babysitter, an ogre with a tail – or is it a tale? As the babysitter reads from a book, the characters in each of the dark, enchanted stories materialize, with each tale averting disaster just as it looms to give way to the next one. As with her other theatrical creations, Zimmerman offers ample opportunity for creative costumes, props, sets and lighting to render the fairy tales in all their elemental and enduring power. Children may enjoy Zimmerman’s fairy tales, but it is adults who will find them the most evocative, fulfilling and visionary.

The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise by Aya Ogawa and Toshiki Okada (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 3m)
A man dreams that his girlfriend is dead – not because he wants to kill her, but because he imagines his life would be more meaningful to have a girlfriend who has died. A woman dreams she is riding the subway, forever. She arrives at a mysterious gathering deep underground, and when she returns to her real life, she finds that decades have gone by and her boyfriend is aged and dying. A modern folktale set against an urban landscape, about our collective longing for the extraordinary, and the mundanity of everyday life.

The White Snake by Mary Zimmerman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6w, 5m + ensemble)
Mary Zimmerman re-imagines an ancient Chinese legend in which a snake spirit transforms herself into a beautiful woman in order to experience the human world. Adventuring down her mountainside with her companion, White Snake meets and falls in love with the humble, virtuous Xu Xian. Together, the three friends open a pharmacy, but the remarkable healing powers of White Snake draw the attention of a treacherous monk, Fa Hai. Outraged at the union between a mortal and a snake spirit, Fa Hai takes it upon himself to destroy it. Zimmerman brings to this timeless romance her usual brilliant mix of ingenious stagecraft, song, abundant humor and compassion.

Witch by Jen Silverman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 4m)
Mischief is afoot in the sleepy village of Edmonton, and the fate of the world is at stake in this smart modern fable. When the emotionally conflicted son of the local lord and an ambitious newcomer come into conflict, the Devil himself offers help. But while the men take advantage of the Devil’s bargain, someone else in town stands her ground—Elizabeth, an outcast whom everyone believes to be a witch.

Wolf at the Door by Marisela Treviño Orta (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 1m)
Inspired by Latino folklore and mythology, Wolf at the Door is part of a cycle of fairy tales by Marisela Treviño Orta. Isadora finds the strength to stand up to her abusive husband Septimo when he forces the very pregnant Yolot to stay against her will. While Septimo makes plans for the baby, Isadora and Yolot devise one of their own. And as a pack of wolves closes in on the hacienda, Isadora must decide what price she’ll pay for her own freedom.

For more great plays and musicals featuring strong leading women, visit Concord Theatricals in the US or UK.

Header Image: 2019 Broadway production of Hadestown (Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)