More than 100 people filled Goodhart Hall on Thursday, Oct. 1, for the Pennsylvania premiere of "Women Laughing." The documentary features 10 women cartoonists for The New Yorker drawing together at the Algonquin Hotel.
The screening at Bryn Mawr College, part of the school's Presidential Events Series, drew alumnae, faculty, students and community members to McPherson Auditorium. A panel discussion followed, and the next morning, three of the cartoonists led a hands-on workshop with 15 students.
Two alumnae made it happen. Liana Sterling, class of 2003, and Namita Luthra, class of 1991, saw the film at a New York City screening and wanted to bring it to campus. Sterling reached out to Lisa Salzman, a history of art professor and dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, to arrange the visit, according to the college.
Bryn Mawr's ties to The New Yorker run deep. Katharine Sergeant White, class of 1914, served as the magazine's fiction editor from 1925 to 1960. Maggie Larson, class of 2010, became the first Bryn Mawr alumna to work as a New Yorker cartoonist when she sold her first cartoon in 2017. She had submitted more than 200 before getting an acceptance.
Luthra curated a display of White's papers and original New Yorker magazines in the Goodhart Hall lobby for the evening.
The post-screening panel featured co-director Liza Donnelly, Larson, graphic novelist Bishakh Som and moderator Catharine Conybeare, a classics professor. Donnelly said that when she started publishing in the magazine, only four women worked as cartoonists. Women now represent about 50 percent.
Luthra called the combination of three cartoonists and a classics professor discussing women's laughter since antiquity "about as Bryn Mawr as Bryn Mawr gets."
On Friday, Oct. 2, Donnelly, Som and Larson led a cartooning workshop for 15 students in the Quita Woodward room. Larson told students to start with shapes on the blank page. "The worst thing in the world is a blank page … I'm talking triangles, I'm talking squares, I'm talking circles. Blobs, blobs are good," she said.
Student Hanaan Tawfik, class of 2030, drew a unicorn playing basketball. Evan Pineo, class of 2028, sketched a person on stage at Carnegie Hall with the caption "You're just a music major?" Classmates riffed on it, adding their own punchline about thanking their parents for discouraging them from studying music.
Bryn Mawr President Wendy Cadge said the screening spoke to a need for joy, calling it important to celebrate women's laughter in a difficult moment.
The next Presidential Events Series program features Dr. Beverly Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College, at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 in Old Library Great Hall. The first 50 attendees receive a free copy of her 2025 book, "Peril and Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times," with a book signing to follow.
