About 99 Women

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Originally conceived from a poem written in 2012 by Geneviève Flaven, Lives and Deaths of 99 Ordinary Women, this work emerged from a deeply introspective moment in the author’s life, a search to quiet the inner voices questioning, “How to be a woman? Which woman to be?”

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The poem unfolded as a procession of 99 women, each summarizing her existence in a single, stark sentence, reminiscent of a police record. These fragments, though concise, carried the weight of untold stories and the unending complexity of femininity. The work did not seek to provide answers; rather, it illuminated that the question of ‘how to be a woman’ would always remain open.

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The stage adaptation, 99 Women, brings these fragments to life, 99 distinct glimpses into women’s lives that celebrate their diversity, ordinariness, humour, and quiet strength. It is not a representation of all women, but an acknowledgment that femininity resists confinement to a single definition.

The choice of the number 99 itself is deliberate, imperfect, incomplete, leaving space for what remains unsaid. It evokes the unaccomplished, the evolving, and the infinite, a space that theatre makes visible, and perhaps, the very measure of freedom itself.

— Geneviève Flaven, Author

​99 Women’ was a large initiative by Innishari in 2016. Over 100 women from all walks of life participated in this play; they were trained into acting and dancing over 6 months, to present 99 compelling stories of women. More than 1500 people attended the show over 2 days.