Late, A Cowboy Song

Full Length Play, Comedy / 1m, 2f

Mary, always late and always married, meets a lady cowboy outside the city limits of Pittsburgh who teaches her how to ride a horse. A story of one woman’s education and her search to find true love outside the box...

Cast Size
1m, 2f
Duration
120 minutes (2 hours)
Subgenre
Fantasy
Target Audience
- Adult
- Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Additional Info

This play is for all the lady cowboys of heart and mind who ride outside the city limits of convention. Mary, always late and always married, meets a lady cowboy outside the city limits of Pittsburgh who teaches her how to ride a horse. Mary’s husband, Crick, buys a painting with the last of their savings. Mary and Crick have a baby, but they can’t decide on the baby’s name, or the baby’s gender. A story of one woman’s education and her search to find true love outside the box.

Accolades

Sarah Ruhl is the 2003 recipient of the Whiting Award for Drama

Reviews

REVIEWS

"Here as ever, Ruhl has a finger to her chin in poetic meditation, with the added attraction of a youthful yodel in her heart." - Washington Post

"[Ruhl's] language is vivid and lyrical. Crick is certainly no poet, but Ruhl finds language for him to describe his passion for art which is both moving and profound. While maintaining Mary’s dimness throughout the production, Ruhl allows her sufficient language to describe the sadness and fear she doesn’t even know she has. And Ruhl gives the laconic Red lines of cowboy wisdom which startle and provoke us..." - DC Theatre Scene

"The [play's] complexity percolates with gender bender twists. Is he for she? Is she for she? Is she a she or he?...Late: A Cowboy Song is an unexpectedly insightful dramedy about defining and redefining self in the pursuit of happiness." Chicago Now

"...this witty bubbling new work presents an in-depth look at the idiosyncrasies of life in regards to gender roles and love. A compelling piece of quirky drama, with an urban fairytale feel to the story, there are laughs and moments of deeply ponderous emotion to behold in this rapid moving performance." - DC Metro Theatre Arts

"An eccentric play about eccentrics" - Washington City Paper

Videos

Late: A Cowboy Song - No Rules Theatre Company Plus One
Late: A Cowboy Song - Independent Little Lies
Late: A Cowboy Song - Calgary's Third Street Theater

Keywords

Feminism, Friendship, Love, Marriage, Parenting/Family

Considerations

Performing Groups

College Theatre / Student
Community Theatre
Dinner Theatre
Professional Theatre
Large Stage
Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups

Cautions

Mild Adult Themes

License details

Minimum Fee: $125 per performance

Production

Details

Time Period: Contemporary, Present Day, New Millennium/21st Century
Duration: 120 minutes (2 hours)
Setting: A version of Pittsburgh.
A silhouette of a messy kitchen.
An image of the Marlboro Man hovers in the distance against blue light.
Features / Contains: Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes

Casting

1m, 2f

CRICK - Charming, fragile, and child-like
MARY - Keeps her journal locked
RED - She’s no cowgirl, she’s a cowboy

See all +

Cast Attributes

Non-Traditional casting
Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle)

Casting Notes

Red talks slow. Crick talks fast. Mary’s somewhere in the middle. Crick, Mary and Red need not be any particular race or ethnicity.

Resources

Scripts

Authors

Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl’s plays include How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, The Oldest Boy, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, The Clean House, Orlando, Late: a cowboy song, Dear Elizabeth and Stage Kiss. She is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Tony Award nominee. Her plays have been ...

View full profile

Late: A Cowboy Song premiered at the Piven Theatre in Chicago in August of 2010.

Late, A Cowboy Song

Late, A Cowboy Song