Surrey Houlker

Surrey Houlker

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

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

Surrey's first full-length play FOR THE FISH was originally workshopped at Moonbox Productions' Boston New Works Festival in 2022. FOR THE FISH has been further developed at Great Plains Theatre Commons in Nebraska, The Depot for New Play Readings in Connecticut, and TC Squared (TC2) Theatre Company in Massachusetts. Her other plays include THE DEAD DADZ CLUB (reading: TC2 Theatre Company), ten-minute plays: LINDA'S DONUTS, SEVEN MINUTES, UNTITLED TURKEY DAY PLAY, BRIDGET & LIZ, and EVERYTHING MUST GO (performance: Emerson College). Surrey holds a BFA from Emerson College.

In addition to writing, Surrey works at the intersection of arts education, trauma-informed teaching, and advocacy. She currently works at an educational non-profit and has worked with 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

  • THE DEAD DADZ CLUB by Surrey Houlker
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    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 (In Progress): It is 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...
    FULL LENGTH (In Progress): It is 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.

    CW: homophobic language, discussion of murder
  • for the fish by Surrey Houlker
    Recommendations: 6
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    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’ sets out to explore 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 Massachusetts 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...
    FULL LENGTH: ‘for the fish’ sets out to explore 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 Massachusetts 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.

    CW: heavy drinking, homophobic language, vomiting
  • Bridget & Liz by Surrey Houlker
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, docudrama/historic
    ·
    Keyword: Lizzie Borden, Bridget Sullivan + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, docudrama/historic
    Keyword: Lizzie Borden, Bridget Sullivan, Fall River, historical fiction, LGBTQ, Mental Health, dark comedy, dark surrealism, cynicism
    TEN MINUTES: Lizzie Borden took an axe...But she'd like you to stop talking about that, goddamnit. Navigating historical speculations of lesbian trysts, abusive parents, and greed-fueled rage, 'Bridget & Liz' enables these two (semi-)famous women to advocate for themselves and to play a couple of board games.

    CW: discussions of murder
  • Untitled Turkey Day Play by Surrey Houlker
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    ·
    Keyword: family, Thanksgiving + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: family, Thanksgiving, addiction, Boston, poverty, exploring gender roles, inner child, dark comedy
    TEN MINUTES: Mah is smoking weed at 7 in the morning, Donny is rage-making a quiche, and Lola...Is Lola really even there at all? A family play of (specifically) Boston proportions, 'Untitled Turkey Day Play' dives into the failure of memory and the systems we build to keep ourselves (and our "histories") safe.

    CW: heavy drinking, discussions of genocide & colonialist violence
  • Seven Minutes by Surrey Houlker
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: teenagers, LGBTQ + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: teenagers, LGBTQ, revenge fantasy, bodily autonomy, power, Mental Health
    TEN MINUTES: Lucy, Abby, and Jamie (BFFLs for LIFE) thought they'd just have a normal sleepover: playing MASH, painting nails, listening to bubbly pop music, contemplating the role of women in the workplace/the home/the world in general...Normal 'girl stuff', ya know? But when Jamie invites Kyle, their classmate, over to play 'Seven Minutes in Heaven', everyone's world is...
    TEN MINUTES: Lucy, Abby, and Jamie (BFFLs for LIFE) thought they'd just have a normal sleepover: playing MASH, painting nails, listening to bubbly pop music, contemplating the role of women in the workplace/the home/the world in general...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.

    CW: Discussion of sexual assault
  • Linda's Donuts by Surrey Houlker
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    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.

    CW: homophobic language, transphobic language, vomiting