“Coop: The Lesbian Chicken Play” made its debut on campus this past weekend, with the playwright, River von Waldron, being invited to Laramie to see their play come to life.
“As a playwright, you hope that your stuff gets produced, but you don’t know what’s going to stick” Von Waldron, a Philadelphia-based actor, singer, playwright, composer and musician, said.
“It’s not really something I thought would get produced, so seeing it in person for the first time, I was just absolutely beside myself.”
The play, which contains a relatively small cast, focuses on the lives of Clove and B, two young queer women as they navigate through lives full of confusion, adversity, and love. Although the central theme is sexual exploration and identity, the play also focuses on themes of violence, addiction, physical intimacy, suicidal ideation, and homophobia, making it widely accessible and relatable.
“There’s a lot of suffering in all of our lives and we all have different ways that we escape when we’re suffering.” Said Toi Giel, the director of the UW Counseling Center and Saturday evening audience member, as she analyzed the heavy themes of the play. “This play was incredibly powerful.”
Von Waldron explained that many aspects of the characters as well as central themes within the play came from their own personal experiences.
“I see so many parallels and similarities and traits in these characters that are the same as so many people in my own life”, Von Waldron said.
The heavily intimate nature of this play came as a bit of a shock to audience members who have never been exposed to such themes on stage.
“The intimacy blocking and planning was definitely the part that I was the most nervous about. The play was very, very intimate,” said Emilygrace Piel, the director of the production and current UW student.
“I knew that I wanted to scale back on the intimacy, not because I didn’t think it was something to be shown, but I didn’t think that we had the time to plan it out the way it needed to be.”
Overall, Coop: The Lesbian Chicken Play, was an unconventional show that hit the UW stage, to shed light on gender identity and exploration in a state where the subject is generally avoided.
Grant Dillivan, a cast member and student at UW said, “I was just really happy to be a part of this production.”
