square product theatre to Stage Regional Premiere of SHE RODE HORSES LIKE THE STOCK EXCHANGE

Boulder-based square product theatre presents the Regional Premiere of Australian-born playwright Amelia Roper's "She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange" at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder.

In a "nice" New England park, on a "nice" New England street, two "nice" New England couples try very, very hard to be "nice" to each other, as the crippling Global Financial Crisis gallops into town. Amelia Roper's "She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange" an absurdly funny, poignant, and terrifying ride through downsized, foreclosed America.

This play is for now," notes director Niki Tulk, who like the playwright, also originally hails from Australia. "It's incredibly funny, urgent and gut-wrenching-both a searing commentary on the excesses of capitalism, and a rallying cry for social justice and personal ethics." Producing Artistic Director Emily K. Harrison, who also serves as an actor in the show agrees. "Amelia sent me several of her plays after we met at Local Theater Company's annual Local Lab last year. I was drawn especially to 'She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange.' There so many laugh out loud moments in the play, but at its core, it's a very incisive and harrowing social commentary, not only on greed, but on sexism and relationships."

Tulk agrees: "The writing is sparse, poetic and biting-this is playwriting at its radical, passionate best. The ensemble energy is electric and the whole process has been an amazing, profound theatrical ride."

"She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange" is the third and final production of square product theatre's 11th Season, a thematic season focused on issues of Power and Privilege. "We've hosted a series of Community Conversations for each play this season," Harrison said. "For '44 Plays for 44 Presidents' we hosted a conversation called 'Race and Politics,' and for 'The Box Marked Black' we hosted a conversation called 'Being Black in Boulder.' For 'She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange,' we're hosting a conversation called 'Women at Work,' which will focus on the ways in which sexism and misogyny affect both men and women in the workplace."

IF YOU GO:

square product theatre presents the Regional Premiere of
"She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange" by Amelia Roper

Presented in repertory with Goddess Here Productions' "The Testament of Mary" by Colm Toibin

Directed by Niki Tulk
Featuring Emily K. Harrison, Andrew Horsford, Jihad Milhem and Michelle Moore

Run dates and times: 8 p.m., Thursday, April 20; 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 21; Saturday, April 22; Friday, April 28; Monday, May 1; Wednesday, May 3; Thursday, May 4; Saturday, May 6; Thursday, May 11; and Saturday May 13; 4 p.m., Saturday, May 29; 6 p.m., Sunday, May 7

Venue: The Carsen Theater at the Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, Colo.

Tickets: $24 general admission; $15 students; $18 seniors; 2-for-1 tickets April 20, April 21, April 29, May 3, and May 4; all seats $15 May 1. Special offer: see "She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange" and "Testament of Mary" for $35!

Tickets available at tickets.thedairy.org/Online/squareproducttheatre or 303-444-7328.

About the playwright: Amelia Roper is an Australian / American playwright and screenwriter with a Yale School of Drama MFA. Her plays have been seen in Australia, Moscow, the Old Vic in London, and around America, including the Humana Festival of New American Plays and Crowded Fire in San Francisco. Currently, Roper is writing for Yale Repertory Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Marin Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Colt Coeur in New York City, The Rose in Omaha, Neb., Taffety Punk in Washington, D.C., King Cross Theatre in Sydney and Melbourne's KIN Collective. Amelia lives in Los Angeles and works on the new Netflix / Jenji Kohan comedy G.L.O.W. (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling). Visit ameliaroper.com for more.

square product theatre's Mission: The mission of award winning, Boulder-based square product theatre is to engage in radical acts of inquiry that leave an audience with just as many questions as answers. For more information on square product theatre, go to squareproducttheatre.org.

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