Cowgirl Up set for ATP world premiere, a few years late

Cowgirl Up playwright Anna Chatterton (Photo courtesy Alberta Theatre Projects)

Alberta Theatre Projects are set to kick off the 2022-23 season with the world premiere of Cowgirl Up next week at the Martha Cohen Theatre.

It just took a few years longer for this particular premiere to happen than the theatre thought it would.

The play, which tells the story of an aspiring barrel racer named Cassidy Clark and her quest to win a buckle at a rodeo, was nurtured and workshopped at ATP. The world premiere was originally set for April, 2020, when it got derailed by the pandemic.

"Cowgirl Up is a love letter to all the resilient, hardworking cowgirls who do it for the love of it - remarkably similar to us artists," said playwright Anna Chatterton, in a release. "It started with a postcard that was sent to me in black and white of a row of confident, happy cowgirls from the early 1900s. I was so struck by the joy on their faces, and the air of freedom they exuded, not typically seen in photos of women in those days.

"I loved the idea of the rhythm of horses and the lingo of rodeo," Chatterton added. "I also wanted to disrupt the iconic symbol of cowboys--putting cowgirls front and centre. And so, the idea of writing a play about cowgirls was born."

Cowgirl Up will also mark the first ATP production presided over by new artistic and executive director Rohit Chokhani.

New Alberta Theatre Projects artistic and executive director Rohit Chokhani directed and adapted a world premiere adaptation of The Jungle Book, which opens Friday. The theatre announced that Chokhani is no longer employed by ATP. (Photo credit: Jennifer Merio)

"The world premiere of Cowgirl Up has been years in the making, and we’re delighted to open the season with a production that is so quintessentially Calgarian with the city’s rich rodeo history," said Chokhani. "We couldn’t be more thrilled and proud of the team that has brought it to life on stage."

Written by Chatterton, who co-created it in collaboration with director Christine Brubaker and dramaturg Meg Braem, along with choreographer Tania Alvarado, Cowgirl Up runs from Oct. 18-30.