Surrey Houlker

Surrey Houlker

Surrey Houlker (she/her) is a Queer, Massachusetts-based theater maker who explores the intricacies of the LGBTQIA+ experience through belonging, community, honesty, and humor. Surrey is also drawn to stories that examine grief, loss, and neurodiverse ways of connecting with others. She is also a big crier.

Surrey's full-length plays include her first play FOR THE FISH (upcoming residency/...
Surrey Houlker (she/her) is a Queer, Massachusetts-based theater maker who explores the intricacies of the LGBTQIA+ experience through belonging, community, honesty, and humor. Surrey is also drawn to stories that examine grief, loss, and neurodiverse ways of connecting with others. She is also a big crier.

Surrey's full-length plays include her first play FOR THE FISH (upcoming residency/reading: the cell theatre, residency/reading: Great Plains Theatre Commons (GPTC), reading: The Depot, workshopped production: Moonbox Productions Boston New Works Festival, finalist: Seattle Public Theater Distillery Festival, Live Arts WATERWORKS Festival, semi-finalist: Local Theater Company Local Lab), and THE DEAD DADZ CLUB (reading: TC2 Theatre Company). Other short plays include HOUSE PLAY co-written with Gabriele Preston (performance: Fresh Ink Theatre), LINDA'S DONUTS, SEVEN MINUTES, and EVERYTHING MUST GO (performance: Emerson College). Additionally, Surrey was a finalist for Company One Theatre Volt Lab 2024. Surrey holds a BFA from Emerson College.

In addition to writing, Surrey believes wholeheartedly in the intersection of arts education, trauma-informed teaching, and advocacy. She currently works at a cheese shop and has worked with Arts for Learning Massachusetts, A.R.T., ArtsEmerson, The Gamm Theatre, and as a teacher with Tiverton RI Public Schools. She is passionate about giving young people the space to start conversations with their personal and collective histories regardless of societal factors that may tell them otherwise.

Let's chat! surreyhoulker@gmail.com

Plays

  • for the fish by Surrey Houlker
    Recommendations: 6
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: family, LGBTQ + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, period
    Keyword: family, LGBTQ, addiction, rural America, Mental Health, 1970s, magical realism, coming of age, art as healing, queer youth
    FULL LENGTH: 'for the fish' explores the experience of growing up alienated and queer in the countryside. How can we find (and keep) safety as queer people? What even is safety? Do fish have feelings? Somewhere deep in rural America in the 70s, 13-year-old Susanna goes fishing with her non-binary Uncle whenever she gets bored. Or overwhelmed. Or terrified. Susanna’s big heart and quick temper keep her...
    FULL LENGTH: 'for the fish' explores the experience of growing up alienated and queer in the countryside. How can we find (and keep) safety as queer people? What even is safety? Do fish have feelings? Somewhere deep in rural America in the 70s, 13-year-old Susanna goes fishing with her non-binary Uncle whenever she gets bored. Or overwhelmed. Or terrified. Susanna’s big heart and quick temper keep her precariously perched between normalcy and disaster. Her Uncle, grappling with their addiction and the task of parenting Susanna, finds themselves caught up in this wave of teenage turbulence. As 1974 comes to a close and a scaly monster rears its ugly head, Susanna and her Uncle draw closer, bonded by an understanding very few in their town will ever hold.
  • THE DEAD DADZ CLUB by Surrey Houlker
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: grief, death of a parent + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: grief, death of a parent, LGBTQ, middle school, Mental Health, queer love, abandonment, early 2000s, friendship, Dads
    FULL LENGTH: It's the early 2000s in suburban America, and there is nothing more important to the members of The Dead Dadz Club (Vee, Brooke, Lulu, Ethan, Natalie, and Lucas) than their dead dads…And maybe the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Middle School Talent Show. As teenage hormones rage, Queer romances blossom, and life-altering secrets come to light, 'THE DEAD DADZ CLUB' examines the cost of...
    FULL LENGTH: It's the early 2000s in suburban America, and there is nothing more important to the members of The Dead Dadz Club (Vee, Brooke, Lulu, Ethan, Natalie, and Lucas) than their dead dads…And maybe the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Middle School Talent Show. As teenage hormones rage, Queer romances blossom, and life-altering secrets come to light, 'THE DEAD DADZ CLUB' examines the cost of belonging, the impacts of trauma, and our collective, intrinsic need to be understood and in control.
  • Rest, Stop. by Surrey Houlker
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: dark comedy, experimental
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    Keyword: LGBTQIA+, blue collar + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, experimental
    Keyword: LGBTQIA+, blue collar, long-haul trucking, surveillance, Solitude, Americana, kitsch
    FULL LENGTH (in progress): A play about long-haul trucking, surveillance, solitude, and road kill. Kinda like if Leslie Feinberg and Large Marge from 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' had a baby.
  • HOUSE PLAY (co-written with Gabriele Preston) by Surrey Houlker
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: dark comedy, horror
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    Keyword: greif, Childhood + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, horror
    Keyword: greif, Childhood, rural America, monsters, death of a family member, belonging, baby teeth
    TEN MINUTES: Something’s lurking in the barn. Locks of hair and scraps of meat go missing. Still, 8-year-old friends Squid and Dukem play ‘House’. A ten-minute play dissecting childhood grief, scraped knees, and the ways we learn to let go. (Written in 12 hours for Fresh Ink’s 2023 Mad Dash)
  • Seven Minutes by Surrey Houlker
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: teenagers, LGBTQ + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: teenagers, LGBTQ, revenge fantasy, bodily autonomy, power, Mental Health
    TEN MINUTES: Lucy, Abby, and Jamie thought they'd just have a normal sleepover: playing MASH, painting nails, listening to bubbly pop music, remembering Brittany & Madona's kiss at the 2003 VMAs...Normal 'girl stuff', ya know? But when Jamie invites Kyle, their classmate, over to play 'Seven Minutes in Heaven', everyone's world is completely blown apart, especially Jamie's.
  • Linda's Donuts by Surrey Houlker
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy
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    Keyword: food service, capitalism + 5 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: food service, capitalism, Trans Characters, Mental Health, anxiety, dunkin' donuts, terfs
    TEN MINUTES: Steph and Leo's morning shift at Linda's Donuts just became 10x worse than it usually is. A ten-minute play exploring privilege, mental health, queerness, and the oppressive confines of capitalism.