THE NATURAL HORSE Comes to the Alleyway Theatre This Month
Performances run October 20 – November 11, 2023.
Alleyway Theatre continues its 44th season with THE NATURAL HORSE. This contemporary fable by T. Adamson is the latest recipient of Alleyway’s annual Maxim Mazumdar New Play Award. The comedy is directed by Robyn Lee Horn and will begin previews Friday October 20, with an opening night set for October 25. Playwright Adamson will be featured in conversation with Horn following Pay What You Can Previews on October 22 and 24.
ABOUT THE PLAY
“I'm so thrilled to receive the Mazumdar Award and I'm ecstatic to be able to share THE NATURAL HORSE at the Alleyway,” says Adamson. “This play is a big, wacky, heartfelt comedy that somehow blends classic Russian literature, architectural theory, and zany puppetry into a contemporary folktale about family, growing up, and building a home.”
Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1954 book The Natural House, THE NATURAL HORSE is a daringly wild play about a family of ex-Soviet immigrants in suburban Wisconsin. When eldest daughter Masha brings home a feral horse named Goodboy to live under mom and dad’s roof, the play explodes with strange silliness and magical beauty. An incredibly theatrical look at how we search for people and spaces to call home, THE NATURAL HORSE is a breathtakingly ambitious and subversively hilarious exploration of human connection.
“Wacky and zany is right,” agrees Artistic Director Chris J Handley. “You get huge giant belly laughs one second, and then it’s followed by the most magical heartbreaking tear-welling image right after. I love the surprises of this piece. It’s certainly something that we’ve never seen on stage before. And it’s got this great connection to Wright – about people searching for the perfect home and what that means. It’s really just hilarious and beautiful.”
Directed by Robyn Lee Horn, THE NATURAL HORSE features designs by Yulanda Yo-Rong Shieh (scenic), Emma Schimminger (lighting), Collin Ranney (costumes), Valeriya Nedviga (sound), Steve Vaughan (fights), JC Hartloff (properties), Jacqueline Cherry (movement), and stage management by Kimberly Neiss. The cast features Todd Benzin, Annette Daniels Taylor, Philip Farugia, Aleks Malejs, Christine Turturro, and WNY newcomer Yamilex Holguín Pérez.
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