Twenty Horses Dead in Kentucky: A Hillbilly Effigy

by Sean Dance Fannin

Fourteen horses lay dead on a mountaintop-mining strip in Appalachian Kentucky. A soldier returns home to discover the sun hasn't risen in three months; the only sign of life is a friend who can't find another job. As the night gets darker the long estranged friends discover what it means to leave home, return again, and give your blood to the dirt that birthed you. They encounter an old woman and a young girl...

Fourteen horses lay dead on a mountaintop-mining strip in Appalachian Kentucky. A soldier returns home to discover the sun hasn't risen in three months; the only sign of life is a friend who can't find another job. As the night gets darker the long estranged friends discover what it means to leave home, return again, and give your blood to the dirt that birthed you. They encounter an old woman and a young girl fighting for things they will never have. Six more horses die. This play is a condemnation of JD Vance and his reprehensible book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. What does a culture in crisis mean to those who abandon it?

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Twenty Horses Dead in Kentucky: A Hillbilly Effigy

Recommended by

  • Christian Flynn: Twenty Horses Dead in Kentucky: A Hillbilly Effigy by Sean Dance Fannin
    “

    What can one even say about this play? It's a play meant to be felt. One of the angriest plays I've read in a long time. A well researched (and even footnoted) play — but it uses it's research to smash, not to pontificate. Truly and wonderfully disturbing.

    What can one even say about this play? It's a play meant to be felt. One of the angriest plays I've read in a long time. A well researched (and even footnoted) play — but it uses it's research to smash, not to pontificate. Truly and wonderfully disturbing.

    ”
  • Ryan Rappaport: Twenty Horses Dead in Kentucky: A Hillbilly Effigy by Sean Dance Fannin
    “

    This play is an eldritch horror in the body of a post-capitalist hellscape. Brightly theatrical and wonderfully technical, this play has a story and suspense plot that keeps me engaged throughout the read. There's always some action going on, adding to the horror of the scenario. In a dying world, there's still action.

    And it's not just that. Fannin includes these nuggets of primal instinct put to words. Starvation, fire, death, it speaks to the reader's inner fears.

    Fannin has created a fascinating and ultimately futile--though with the desire, but caution, for hope--play. I enjoyed my time...

    This play is an eldritch horror in the body of a post-capitalist hellscape. Brightly theatrical and wonderfully technical, this play has a story and suspense plot that keeps me engaged throughout the read. There's always some action going on, adding to the horror of the scenario. In a dying world, there's still action.

    And it's not just that. Fannin includes these nuggets of primal instinct put to words. Starvation, fire, death, it speaks to the reader's inner fears.

    Fannin has created a fascinating and ultimately futile--though with the desire, but caution, for hope--play. I enjoyed my time with this one.

    read more
    ”
  • Audrey Cefaly: Twenty Horses Dead in Kentucky: A Hillbilly Effigy by Sean Dance Fannin
    “

    An ambitious, visceral, highly theatrical work.

    An ambitious, visceral, highly theatrical work.

    ”

Character Information

1 she/they, 1 he/him, 2 she/her
  • Ace Lynn Vaught
    A soldier. Presents masculine. Non-binary.
    Early 20s
    Latinx
    She/they
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Latinx/o/a or Hispanic
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female,
      Non-binary
  • Oakley Daniel McCoy
    Long-haired droopy eyed dreamer. Can't find another job.
    Early 20s
    Black
    he/him
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Black, African, Caribbean, or African American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male,
      Non-binary
  • Darby Deborah Lewis-James
    Old woman. Pushing older. Lives alone.
    Old
    Melungeon
    She/her
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      60s,
      70s+
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Black, African, Caribbean, or African American,
      Indigenous, First Nation, or Native American,
      Latinx/o/a or Hispanic,
      White
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Sam
    Small girl, couldn't more than 10/11, but smaller than that still.
    Young
    Melungeon
    She/her
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      Child
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Black, African, Caribbean, or African American,
      Indigenous, First Nation, or Native American,
      Latinx/o/a or Hispanic,
      White
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female