Mad Horse Theatre Presents WOMEN LAUGHING ALONE WITH SALAD In March

Mad Horse Theatre will present Women Laughing Alone with Salad by Sheila Callaghan, Directed by Lauren Stockless, March 6 - 30.

What's on the menu for Meredith, Tori, and Sandy, the three women in Guy's life? Healthy lifestyles, upward mobility, meaningful sex? Or self-loathing and distorted priorities? Inspired by the strangely ubiquitous advertising trend of picturing attractive women blissfully eating salad, award-winning playwright Sheila Callaghan breaks all the rules of our image-obsessed culture in Women Laughing Alone With Salad. This raw comedy is served with a side of feminism and tossed with audacious imagery, biting social critique, and devastating humor.

The cast includes company member Allison McCall and guest artists, Lys Pearl-Ross, Mary Fraser and Ethan Rhoad.  The production crew includes company members: Lauren Stockless (Director), Savannah Irish (Costume Design), Jake Cote (Production Manager, Fight Choreographer), Nick Schroeder (Sound Design), and Joe Bearor (Projection Graphic Designer).  Guest artists include: Jenn London (Stage Manager), Hope Riordan (Assistant Director/ Dramaturg), Anya Criden-Clark (Assistant Stage Manager), Louise Ambler (Lighting Design), Cora Therber (Projection Design), Adam Corriveau (Props Design) and Hollie Pryor (Intimacy Choreographer).

Some thoughts from the director Lauren Stockless: “Women Laughing Alone With Salad is a play that has been spinning around in my brain for quite some time. I have always been drawn to the unexpected, and this script does not hesitate to throw itself headfirst into chaos. But the beauty of the chaos is the incredibly poignant and purposeful reasoning behind it. Sheila Callaghan has worked some kind of magic with this play, and it's one that has stuck with me. On the surface, “Salad” is a play about the lengths that advertisements go to in order to sell us everything, but underneath that it's so much more. This is a show about the consistent societal pressure placed on women and femme presenting individuals to look/act/be a certain way. As a plus-sized woman continually bombarded with the next pill or drink or workout fad to make me take up less space, this play is incredibly personal and powerful. I am so grateful to the incredible team of artists who have signed on to this wild ride with me, and who are putting in the work to make this show everything that it can and should be.”

Author Sheila Callaghan grew up in Freehold New Jersey and attended UCLA's playwriting program.  After grad school, Sheila emerged from the Regional Alternative Theatre movement in the 1990's. Her work was considered experimental or “downtown,” a niche she still considers herself a part of.  An award-winning playwright, her plays have been produced in New York, L.A., across the country, and abroad.  She has received the Princess Grace Award for emerging artists, a Cherry Lane Mentorship Fellowship, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and the prestigious Whiting Award. Sheila is also a writer/producer of the Showtime comedy Shameless. in 2016 she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on the Hulu comedy series Casual. When asked why she writes plays, Sheila Callaghan claims the best answer she can give is “Because I must. A yawping, bottomless cavern in my soul compels me thusly,”  and, on a less primal level, “Because I am waiting for someone to tell me to stop."

The shows run Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 with 3 Sunday performances, 2 at 2:00 ( 3/16 and 3/30) and one at 5:00 (3/23).  There will be one Wednesday 7:30 performance the last week of the run (3/26).

Content Warnings: Sexual Content, Discussion of Eating Disorders, Negative Discussions of Weight / Body Shaming, Emetophobia Warning / Implication and Description of Vomiting (Occurs Offstage), Simulated Blood

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