A drama enriched by turbulence and the resiliency of women, “Honey and Ruin” plays in September at the Sangre de Cristo Art Center in Pueblo.

The play springs from a collaboration of three playwrights from Woodland Park and Cripple Creek, Maddy Sneckner, Emily Heida and Jaime Brown. The three performed together in Crazy” in 2023 at the Butte Theater in Cripple Creek.

After the run ended, the women felt driven to continue the theatrical experience, this time as writers.  

“We can’t stop,” Sneckner said, looking back on that day.

Squeezing time between schedules, including digital get-togethers, the three eventually wrote, directed, produced and found a venue to perform “Honey and Ruin.”

A rock musical set between the 1970s and 1980s, the play follows three women who were once on the path to something big.

“We wanted to tell a story about connection, of love and loss, reality,” Sneckner said.

In the beginning, the characters felt they had a voice in planning their future but subsequently were blacklisted, written off by the theater community.

“We wanted to tell a story about how hard it was for someone of our gender back in the ‘70s and ‘80s and how women trail-blazed and made it easier for women like us to be in the industry,” Brown said.  “Yay, women!”

The women find each other in a dive bar where something unexpected happens.

“They hear each other. And for the first time in a long time, they’re not alone,” the women write in a press release. “What starts as a spark becomes something louder, messier, and more powerful than any of them expected. But building something new means facing everything they left behind.”

Along with writing the script, they scouted for a band and found “Exhaler,” whose music recreates the sounds of musicians such as Pat Benatar, Joan Jett and Linda Rondstadt

However, in the world of theater in the Pikes Peak Region, locating a venue for performances is a challenge. But with Heida’s connection to people at the art center in Pueblo, the women reached out.

“We collaborated with them and made it work,” said Heida, who is the technical director for the Butte Theater.

To help with expenses, for the venue as well as payment for the actors, the producers put the word out on “Kickstarter.”  The cast, in addition to Sneckner, Heida and Brown, includes David Bass, Mike Green, Zack Rush, Will Sneckner, Kenny Walter, Miles Roque and Louanne Bright.

“Honey and Ruin” by I Said What I Said productions is at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 and at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sept. 5 at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center Theater in Pueblo.

Tickets are $25 +$2.77 in fees and available at www.our.showhoneyandruin or at https.//sdc-arts.org.