“I wrote the most personal terrifying vulnerable play of my life,” the playwright Hilary Bettis recently shared on Instagram, “and now it’s coming to life with a dream director and cast.” Growing up on farms and ranches in rural Colorado, Bettis always felt most at home around horses. But when she had to switch schools in eighth grade, she had to find her place in a new world. Bettis tells this coming-of-age tale in Falcon Girls. Set in 1990s Falcon, Colorado, the play follows six teenage girls on the FFA horse judging team who dream of making it to nationals. To get there, they must not only train but navigate rumors, feuds, and adolescent desires, on top of the judgment of peers who resent their ambitions to leave small-town life behind. “When the girls are with their horses,” says the director May Adrales, “it’s the only time they feel empowered.” —Jeanne Malle