Equus (play) by critics and audiences alike. Broadway World called the production 'dark, daunting and sensual' and commending its 'stellar cast'. Houston Press said it was 'astonishingly good... a must see' while Culturemap listed the show as one of the hottest shows of the year. Equus (play) Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses. Shaffer was inspired to write "Equus" when he heard of a crime involving a 17-year-old who blinded six horses in a small town near
Elaine Shaffer Elaine Shaffer Elaine Shaffer (October 22, 1925 – February 19, 1973) was an American flutist and principal of the Houston Symphony Orchestra between 1948 and 1953. Elaine Shaffer was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania. She attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and was the prize student of William Kincaid, the 'grandfather' of the majority of flutists in the United States. That he willed his platinum flute to her makes his regard for her talent evident. Kincaid was her only formal flute teacher; prior to that, she was entirely self-taught, according to an interview with Shaffer's widowed husband, Efrem Kurtz,