PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — “Horsegirl & Cowdaddy” follows the journey of one father and daughter’s relationship.<\/p>\n
“It’s about a trans woman living with her dad in rural Pennsylvania,” says DJ Hills, playwright of “Horsegirl & Cowdaddy.”<\/p>\n
Lindsay Smiling, the newly named solo artistic director of the Wilma Theater, stars as Cowdaddy.<\/p>\n
“They are living a simple life,” says Smiling. “Have their day-to-day routines and have a deep love for each other.”<\/p>\n
Cowdaddy’s horse-loving daughter is played by actress Samora de la Brisa, formerly known as Samora la Perdida.<\/p>\n
“Horses to her represent this free, wild, strong being. Things that she’s learning to embrace in her real life,” says de la Brisa.<\/p>\n
The rhythm of their life is disrupted when Horsegirl meets Bethel.<\/p>\n
“A young transmasculine teacher comes into town,” she says.<\/p>\n
“And she falls head over heels for this new person,” says Adil Mansoor, director of “Horsegirl & Cowdaddy.” “And it shakes up her dynamic with her father.”<\/p>\n
“And when Bethel asks Horsegirl, ‘Is there anything else you want out of your life?’ It really spurs, no pun intended, this other transformation,” says de la Brisa.<\/p>\n
“She turns into a horse,” says Hills.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia-based artists, Rebecca Kanach and Erik Ruin, bring Horsegirl to life with costumes and shadow puppets, respectively.<\/p>\n
“And in the midst of that is this, like, magical transformation,” says Mansoor. “We get to witness these three people learn a lot about themselves across a summer.”<\/p>\n
“The heart of this story really is about, ‘Where do you belong? Where are you gonna be happy?'” says Smiling. “And the love that complicates that question.”<\/p>\n
The play also challenges stereotypes.<\/p>\n
“And sort of asks, like, why people assume that, specifically queer and trans people, have to leave these rural spaces in order to be their full selves,” says Hills.<\/p>\n
“Her transformation into a horse isn’t a metaphor for gender. It’s a metaphor for finding home in this trans body in rural America, which is absolutely possible,” says de la Brisa.<\/p>\n
“Horsegirl & Cowdaddy”<\/a> runs September 22 to October 4, 2026, at the Wilma Theater. Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — “Horsegirl & Cowdaddy” follows the journey of one father and daughter’s relationship. “It’s about a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[118866,107706,69,71,70,13518],"class_list":["post-285129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-118866","tag-6abc-loves-the-arts","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-the-wilma-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Tickets <\/a>
The Wilma Theater
265 S. Broad Street (Broad & Spruce Streets)
Philadelphia, PA 19107<\/p>\n