A Conversation with Sylvan Oswald: PONY

ABOUT THE PLAY

A seminal work of trans theater brought to the page for the first time

When Pony, a formerly incarcerated trans guy, moves to a small rural town to start a new life, he quickly becomes entangled with its isolated community. He starts to fall for a waitress who is obsessed with a local murder; he must comply with a butch social worker who doesn’t understand him; and he is pursued by a young trans man who thinks Pony could be the father he always wanted. Amid this whirlwind of fear and desire, Pony must find the strength to confront the stories he’s been told about masculinity, violence, and self-worth. With a new preface by the author on searching for queer and trans community in the theater, and an afterword by critic Miriam Felton-Dansky contextualizing its place in contemporary theater, Pony is a seminal work of trans theater exploring questions of generational difference, class, and gender on an epic scale.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sylvan Oswald is an interdisciplinary artist originally from Philadelphia who creates plays, texts, publications, and video. His work uses metatheatricality and formal irreverence to explore queer and trans identity. Recent projects include the theatrical essay Trainers (Gate Theatre, London) and the performance text High Winds, based on the book of the same name he co-authored with graphic designer Jessica Fleischmann (X Artists’ Books). Sylvan’s lo-fi semi-improvised web series Outtakes starring Becca Blackwell and Zuzanna Szadkowski is hosted at weareopentv.com. His plays and collaborations include A Kind of Weather (Diversionary Theatre, San Diego), Sun Ra (Joe’s Pub, Jerome Travel and Study Grant, Soho Rep Writer-Director Lab), Profanity (Undermain Theater, Dallas; Soho Rep Dorothy Strelsin Fellowship), Nightlands (New Georges), Pony (About Face Theater, Chicago), and Vendetta Chrome (Clubbed Thumb). Honors include a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship, a Rosati Fellowship from Duke University Libraries, the Thom Thomas award from The Dramatists Guild, a Jerome Fellowship, and residencies at Sundance/Ucross, Macdowell Colony, and Yaddo. Sylvan is an alum of CTG’s Writers’ Workshop, an affiliated artist at Clubbed Thumb and an alum of New Dramatists.

About the Facilitator

Abhi Shrestha is a Chicago based theatre educator, director, and dramaturg originally from Kathmandu, Nepal. They are the Director of Education and Engagement at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Resident Dramaturg and Community Organizer for the Chicago Inclusion Project, an Artistic Associate with Remy Bumppo and a proud board member of the Illinois Caucus of Adolescent Health. Abhi has spent over a decade cultivating a theatrical and administrative practice that champions youth agency and empowerment. Abhi believes deeply in the liberatory power of arts education and views theatre as a civic engagement modality.