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Surrey Houlker

Recommended by Surrey Houlker

  • witch play by Erika Phoebus
    17 Jun. 2023
    “ 'witch play' ignites my lil' Queer heart and makes me feel like I am in on a gloriously sexy, dangerous, and joyful secret. When I saw this reading at GPTC, the humor in Phoebus' script really lifted off the page and drove home the themes of bodily autonomy, Queer love, and the confines of religion. It is one thing to write about the past, but 'witch play' catapults the audience back to a time that is strikingly not unlike our present. I loved it! ”
  • Big Black Sunhats by Mallory Jane Weiss
    17 Jun. 2023
    “ As a coastal New England girlie, 'Big, Black Sunhats' really scratched my seafaring itch and held my existential dread in a beautiful way. While watching this reading at GPTC, I was struck by the play's exploration of love and the societal value that we place on youthfulness. It is so important that work is being written for older femmes to perform, and Weiss does a masterful and hilarious job of endearing us to these complicated and relatable characters. I loved it! ”
  • Assassinating Zeus by Daniel Prillaman
    28 Jan. 2023
    “ Oooof, this play really got me in the feels. The dialogue is quick, punchy, unflinching, hilarious, and devastating all at once. 'Assassinating Zeus' delves into the absurdity of therapy, of trusting a stranger with all of your baggage without knowing their own baggage. The ending is abrupt and blunt in the best way, and I loved going along for the ride. ”
  • Tipping by Jillian Blevins
    27 Jan. 2023
    “ One of the things I love most about 'Tipping' is its universality. Blevins' characters are flexible, colorful, and pack such a punch. Whoever SADSACK and BADASS are played by could change the way the story is perceived by the audience; Blevins' openness is a gift. 'Tipping' is beautifully theatrical and generously written. It will leave you with an ache and a longing that last far long than the play's 10 minutes. ”
  • XOXOLOLA by Rachel Greene
    5 Jan. 2023
    “ XOXOLOLA is everything I have ever wanted in a 'femme horror play'. It made me think of the sexist, overdone work of someone like Tarantino or von Trier (or Shakespeare, even) and MY relationship to artists like that who revel in decay and violence towards women and femmes. Rachel Greene holds up an unescapable mirror to art, academia, the internet, and American life. The way Greene weaves in chatroom dialogue is sharp and perfect for the pace of the play. Freakin' read it! ”
  • We Are Cranston by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend
    31 Dec. 2022
    “ WE ARE CRANSTON had me at the stage direction, "They cheer in a manly way"! Not only is this dark-comedy a tug-of-war between generations of 'men', it's a dive into the ways we express grief, desire, and difficult emotions...and we don't always express them in a very 'sane' or 'moral' way. WE ARE CRANSTON is also bitingly funny, and the power dynamic between the three varsity players and COACH HOWARD is perfectly explored. ”