We sat down for an exclusive interview with writer/performer Ally Ibach whose show Midnight Cowboy Radio comes to Pen Theatre London from 16-18th April 2025. Ally Ibach is an actor, playwright , voiceover and theatre artist – with bases in NYC, Baltimore, and London.
Midnight Cowboy Radio explores the intersection of political satire and dark comedy while tackling the topic of reproductive rights. What inspired you to create this story, and why did you choose this format to tell it?
I was living in the UK (Attending Drama School at East 15) when the Supreme Court Opinion about overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked in the Spring of 2022. It was devastating to watch that happen from another country. I felt hopeless and powerless. I questioned why I was in drama school, while people were getting their rights stripped away in my home country. I had the question “What if a fiercely conservative woman needed an abortion?” while picking up bananas at Sainsbury’s. I ran home and wrote the ten minute sketch of this play. It made me laugh. It reignited my purpose as a theatre artist by sharing a story. It was (and still is) such a depressing time, and I wanted to make something that raised awareness, explored the complexities around politicizing reproduction, and …somehow…wanted to make people laugh (yes, especially now). Satire/ Dark Comedy are how we cope with abstract ideas in a way that brings audiences together across the political spectrum.
Your show has had an impressive run across various festivals and venues, from the Edinburgh Fringe to NYC’s Theatre Row. How has the audience reception varied across different locations, and has that influenced your perspective on the play?
The locations and times (2022-2024) we have performed Midnight Cowboy Radio have made a huge impact on how we tell this story and how it has been received. For example, International audiences at Edinburgh may be able to more easily laugh at this character from the onset, perhaps because of the distance they may feel from the character, while I found the intimate moments read differently for American audiences that have viscerally felt the effects of this legislation.
Regardless, you never know what experiences folks are coming into the play with.
Those conversations about abortion access, government control, and value sets have happened every time we have put on this play. We most recently performed it in Edinburgh Fringe, where we saw a range of international audiences, watching this in the wake of the 2024 election in America, where there was this hope for a tremendous administrative change. Audiences afterwards we’re helping Americans abroad register to vote.
It was an energy of activated hope.
The audience has been a key component in crafting this journey through one intimate night of radio. This is the first time we have properly put the play on in London, where it all started. It’s also the first time we have put this play on during this current American Presidential Administration. This play is no longer a cautionary tale for Americans. It’s our unfortunate reality. I hope it motivates audiences here to do everything they can to protect and expand reproductive rights in the UK, and to stay in conversation with what’s happening across the pond.
As both the writer and performer of Midnight Cowboy Radio, how do you balance your creative vision with the challenges of embodying such a complex character live on stage?
I work with incredible collaborators on this piece. My director Patrica Runcie- Rice has been my rock in this process. She has been able to take the reins in the rehearsal process to allow me to focus on character first. They are difficult cowboy boots to fill; and have certainly carried more weight as the political climate has unraveled over the years. Working with a brilliant creative team has grounded me in having the support to be extremely vulnerable on stage; to make hard choices in character that are supported by the text. I see the writing as a rocket ship. This play is incredibly structured and musical (like a night of radio). I have worked with the words so much as a writer. Now, my job as an actor is to fully ride this wave. I have to take my playwright hat off and my “Radio Cowgirl” hat on to serve the story fully. My incredible sound designers, Kris Carpenter and C.M. Jenkins has also built this campy local radio world with me, that has allowed me to even further immerse myself into this character and her isolation. Also I want to shoutout my organizational support in Lauren Dietzel (Producer) and Gabrielle Rodríguez (Production Assistant) for helping manage this insanity!
The play is set in Kentucky and follows a conservative late-night radio host navigating a deeply personal crisis. What kind of research or personal experiences informed your portrayal of this character and setting?
I grew up in a liberal pocket of a conservative area in America. I was exposed to a lot of rhetoric on both sides growing up, which motivated me to always explore the complexities of a two-party system and analyze the values of those around me. I listened to late-night talk radio. (It was the only thing on.) I went to Catholic secondary school and attended mandatory “Pro Life” Assembly Days (to be a part of the school plays, ofcourse). So we could talk for hours about the many personal experiences linked to this piece. I also know what it’s like to be in a deep crisis without support. This area of Kentucky was one of the first to be hit with abortion bans in the U.S., and has been struggling with disastrous flooding. It seemed very Old Testament to me, at a time where I was exploring how evangelical Christian values became so interlopes with the American Republican Party. So, I leaned into that and bore those characters from a mix of all of these experiences and more. Furthermore, I worked with a brilliant dramaturg
Eulàlia Comas, who grounded the play in timelines of evangelical Christian media, abortion legislation in America, the history of radio talk shows, and the local history/ dynamics of Breathitt County, Kentucky. At the heart of it, I am deeply interested in why people believe what they believe, almost especially when it is contradictory to their own wellbeing.
With the London performances at Pen Theatre coming up in April 2025, what do you hope UK audiences will take away from Midnight Cowboy Radio, especially given the differences in reproductive rights discourse between the US and the UK?
To quote the Beatles, we need to “come together, right now.” I hope UK audiences take away the humanity behind the American news. Real people are being affected everyday by the decisions any government makes. I hope this play serves as a reminder that no one is a monolith. We contain multitudes. The world looks pretty scary right now. I’m constantly questioning where our hope lies. I believe it lies in telling our stories, in sharing resources within our communities, and in asking deeper questions of ourselves and each other. I want audiences to leave starting conversations with their loved ones about what their values are, what reproductive rights mean to them, and asking what they can do to support their local communities. Now, more than ever, we have to fiercy ask ourselves, in the words of the play, “Am I Doing the Right Thing?”