Ensemble Studio Theatre and Youngblood present
Year of the Rooster by Olivia Dufault
Directed by John Giampietro
A New York Times Critics' Pick
Extended! January 9 through February 1, 2014!
“Year of the Rooster” at the Ensemble Studio Theater isn’t merely entertaining. It’s astonishingly entertaining," - The New York Times
"Plot description doesn’t really do justice to this play’s dazzling comic fury, it’s a good thing there’s an intermission, because the audience needs time to recover" - The New York Times
"Olivia Dufault's comical cockfight thriller Year of the Rooster, written for Youngblood, brims with that group's ferocious, under-30 pep." - Time Out New York
Odysseus Rex is a champion.
He is his trainer's greatest hope.
He is his opponents' greatest fear.
One day he will destroy the sun.
He is a rooster.
Cast & Creative
Dickie Thimble - Denny Dale Bess*
Lou Pepper - Delphi Harrington*
Gil Pepper - Thomas Lyons*
Odysseus Rex - Bobby Moreno*
Phillipa - Megan Tusing*
Production stage manager - Eileen Lalley
Scenic Design - Alexis Distler
Costume Design - Sydney Maresca
Lighting Design - Greg MacPherson*
Sound Design - Shane Rettig*
Fight Director - Qui Nguyen*
*Indicates an Ensemble Artist
Reviews
He Struts, but His Comb Is Trembling
‘Year Of The Rooster,’ A Play About Cockfighting
By NEIL GENZLINGER, The New York Times
Published: November 11, 2013
“Year of the Rooster” at the Ensemble Studio Theater isn’t merely entertaining. It’s astonishingly entertaining, partly because the playwright, Olivia Dufault, is only in her mid-20s and partly because who would have thought that a barnyard bird could make such an intriguing stage character?
The play is about cockfighting, and it would be noteworthy just for its human characters: Dickie (Denny Dale Bess), a profane promoter; Gil (Thomas Lyons), a timorous schlub who is training a champion-caliber rooster; Lou (Delphi Harrington), Gil’s aged mother; and Philipa (Megan Tusing), Gil’s foul-mouthed co-worker at McDonald’s. Each of their performances is top-notch, and two of them (Mr. Bess and Ms. Tusing) also do time as fowls.
But it’s Bobby Moreno, playing Gil’s prize rooster Odysseus Rex, who makes the play especially memorable. Frenzied and drug-addled (the bird is being supercharged with a diet that includes a lot of injectables), Mr. Moreno is utterly convincing, with the jerky, strutting motions of a rooster and the crowing to match.
But this is no gimmick part. Dufault gives this rooster a complex, conflicted inner life and a revelatory perspective on the world. And Gil piles a lot of hopes onto Odysseus’s feathers. Plot description doesn’t really do justice to this play’s dazzling comic fury, but the gist of it is that Gil enters into a bet with Dickie, who owns a legendary undefeated rooster. The stakes are high; under the humor, Dufault has laid a foundation of pathos.
The pivotal cockfight that ends Act I is exhilarating and, in the tight confines of Ensemble Studio’s theater, a little terrifying. Anyone can stage a sword fight, but the director (John Giampietro) and fight director (Qui Nguyen, of Vampire Cowboys renown) may have invented the template for a battle to the death between birds.
It’s a good thing there’s an intermission, because the audience needs time to recover from this scene and get ready for the denouement. Winning, it turns out, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, whether you’re a human or a rooster.
“Year of the Rooster” continues through Nov. 24 at Ensemble Studio Theater, 549 West 52nd Street, Clinton; 866-811-4111, ensemblestudiotheatre.org.
"Olivia Dufault's comical cockfight thriller Year of the Rooster, written for Youngblood, brims with that group's ferocious, under-30 pep."
- Time Out New York
"Year of the Rooster Crows with Delight"
- Times Square Chronicle
"It's masterful traditional theater"
"One of the best plays of the year."
"Year of the Rooster, EST's new play by Olivia Dufault, is cut from the same cloth as the best of Greek drama, with gorgeously written tragic characters, torrents of raw emotion, and the agonizing recognition of how fate responds to man's choices."
-Maxamoo
"Moreno is smart, sexy, funny"
"An EST show is sure to have a distinctive voice, very talented actors and a spirit of passionate support. That's all on display with Year Of The Rooster... This is a funny, fierce work and you leave eager to see the playwright's next one! That's what EST does at its best and they do it here."
-The Huffington Post