The final showing of Jenny Rachel Weiner’s “Horse Girls” was performed at Southern Oregon University in Cascade 108 by a small group of theatre students, at 8 p.m. on Oct. 2. The play was a student run show that featured seven SOU actors; Megan Jones, Delaney Barbour, Emily Hawks, Quinci Freeman-Lytle, Grace Kent, Chandler Parrott Thomas and Savanna Padilla.
According to director Aurelia Grierson, “Horse Girls” was a “show about women” and the “moment in adolescence that young women realize they have no power in the world,” According to director Aurelia Grierson.
The weekend of the 29th and 30th was the first showing of “Horse Girls” in Oregon. The show was only supposed to run that weekend, but Jackie Apodaca, co-chair of SOU’s theatre department, requested it come back for an additional weekend. “The student produced showcase of ‘Horse Girls’ was a wonderful example of the kinds of creativity we encourage in the theatre program,” she said.
Grierson was first exposed to “Horse Girls” while she was attending Fordham University in New York. She was in the original workshop production of the play during the New Works Festival at the Arts Nova Theatre in 2013. Grierson selected this play to showcase some of the school’s actresses because “SOU has such a well of untapped female talent,” said Grierson. “[Women] are not given the opportunity to perform shows that are meaty, challenging or fun for them to do.”
Megan Jones, the show’s lead said, “Being able to put on a show that was written and directed by a woman was such an amazing experience.” She continued, “Women can be funny, and so rarely are women viewed as a comedic source, and I love that this production got to show that.”
Grierson had been planning the show since May where she began casting and got stage manager, Madeline Hartrich, and set designer, Hannah Berg on board. Rehearsal began on Sep. 4th and the first showing was on the 27th. The show was female driven and had only one male on staff: “#1 horse boy,” Reilly Schrader-Dee, who designed lights and sound for the production.
