FOR WANT OF A HORSE to be Presented at Echo Theater Company

The Echo Theater Company will present the world premiere of a darkly comic, deeply human exploration of love, desire and unconventional relationships. Written by trans playwright, screenwriter and comic book writer Olivia Dufault and directed by Echo associate artistic director Elana Luo, For Want of a Horse opens April 18 for a six-week run, through May 25, at Atwater Village Theatre. Three Pay-What-You-Want previews are set for April 15, April 16 and April 17.

Joey Stromberg (Echo productions of What Happened When and The Witchery) stars as Calvin. Calvin is devoted to his wife, Bonnie, played by Jenny Soo (recipient of a Stage Raw award for her performance in the Echo’s Gloria). But, as Calvin confesses to his Best Friend, PJ (Steven Culp, seen at the Echo in Handjob and The Enablers), if he’s to move forward, he needs to open up their relationship to include his new romantic partner. One complication: that partner would be Q-Tip (played by Griffin Kelly of HBO's Emmy-winning series, Book of Queer) — and Q-Tip is a horse.

The play’s unusual subject matter was inspired by an unlikely 2014 New York magazine article titled “What It’s Like to Date a Horse,” part of the magazine’s “What It’s Like” series of in-depth interviews with people who lead atypical lives.

“Reading that article, I was immediately captivated, horrified and amused,” Dufault explains. “Whenever I feel those kinds of conflicting emotions, I know it’s a story worth exploring. I found myself deeply empathizing with that unnamed man, with his enormous capacity for self-loathing and self-hatred. That is the power— and the peril—of empathy.”

Awarded a Venturous Playwrights Fellowship for the play’s bold subject matter, Dufault has been working with the Echo to develop For Want of a Horse since 2023.