DJ Hills' HORSEGIRL & COWDADDY is Coming to Soho Rep

Soho Rep will kick off 2027 with the world premiere production of DJ Hills's Horsegirl & Cowdaddy, directed by Adil Mansoor, February 20-March 21 (opening March 8) in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons. A co-production with The Wilma Theater, where it began performances September 22 and runs through October 4, 2026 prior to performances in New York.

Horsegirl, a trans woman in her thirties, lives a life of easy routine alongside her father, Cowdaddy, in rural Pennsylvania. When she falls for Bethel, a magnetic Teach for America fellow who just rolled into town, their relationship sparks a fantastical metamorphosis. Full of wry humor and queer desire, Horsegirl & Cowdaddy is about the expansive joy of finding freedom in your own backyard.

Lindsay Smiling, a beloved actor in the Philadelphia theater community who recently became the sole Artistic Director of the Wilma, has been attached to the play through its development in the role of Cowdaddy. Soho Rep audiences saw Samora de la Brisa in a larger-than-life performance in Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members. In Horsegirl & Cowdaddy, de la Brisa gets the opportunity to give a different type of virtuosic performance: in the soft strength and vulnerability of Horsegirl. Ni-Ni plays Bethel in their second-ever professional production following their Off-Broadway debut in NAATCO's Isabel.

Mansoor and an inventive creative team bring Horsegirl & Cowdaddy's expressive landscape to life in handcrafted spectacle. They include Lane LaVonne (Assistant Director), Jian Jung (Set Designer), Kate McGee (Lighting Designer), Rebecca Kanach (Costume Designer), Erik Ruin (Puppet Designer), Johnny Gasper (Sound Designer), and Leo Mock (Intimacy Coordinator and Dramaturg). The production team also includes Lay Hoon Tan (Production Manager) and Jo Fernandez (Stage Manager).