Equus (play) Tom Hulce replaced Firth during the Broadway run. The Broadway production ran for 1,209 performances. Marian Seldes appeared in every single performance of the Broadway run, first in the role of Hesther and then as Dora. Shaffer also adapted his play for a 1977 film of the same name. Numerous other issues inform the narrative. Most important are religious and ritual sacrifice themes, and the manner in which character Alan Strang constructs a personal theology involving the horses and the supreme godhead, "Equus". Alan sees the horses as representative of God and confuses his adoration of his "God" with sexual
Beverly Shaffer Academy Award in 2005. In June 2008, it was announced that she and colleague Paul Cowan would lose their positions as NFB staff filmmakers, due to budget cuts. Born in Montreal in 1945, Shaffer graduated from McGill University in 1967, with a B.A. in comparative religion and philosophy. She taught high school for two years before doing a master's degree in filmmaking at Boston University. Upon graduation in 1971, she worked at WGBH-TV as a production assistant, researcher and associate producer on science and public affairs programs. Beverly Shaffer Beverly Shaffer is a filmmaker in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Shaffer spent