David Cale's BLUE COWBOY is Now Playing at The Bushwick Starr
Performances run through November 1, 2025.
By: Stephi Wild Oct. 16, 2025
The Bushwick Starr is presenting the world premiere of Blue Cowboy, written and performed by award-winning playwright and performer David Cale (Harry Clarke, Lillian, We're Only Alive for A Short Amount of Time) and directed by award-winning director Les Waters (Dana H, Grief Camp, Eurydice). Performances run through November 1, 2025.
A writer from New York travels to Ketchum, Idaho to work on a film script set in Sun Valley. His plans and life take a wildly unanticipated turn after he has a chance encounter with an elusive ranch hand at the town's annual "Trailing of the Sheep Festival". Blue Cowboy, the new solo work from David Cale, is the frank and sexually explicit story of two men from very different worlds. One who is open about his life, and the other whose life remains a self-imposed mystery to everyone around him, but who both share a profound need to intimately connect to another human being. Cale tells the story in his signature style full of vulnerability and blunt confession.
Creative team: Set & Props Design: Colleen Murray, Costume Design: Kaye Voyce, Lighting Design: Mextly Couzin, Sound Design: Tei Blow, Stage Manager: Siena Yusi, Assistant Stage Manager: Maia Tivony, Assistant Costume Design: Noah Willis-Hogan
Blue Cowboy was commissioned by The Sun Valley Playwright's Residency, a special initiative of The Community Library's Hemingway Writer-in-residence program in association with Sawtooth Productions.
Development of Blue Cowboy has been supported in part, through a residency and workshop performance at Ancram Center for the Arts (Jeffrey Mousseau and Paul Ricciardi, Directors).
Quote from The Bushwick Starr's Artistic Director: “The Starr is absolutely delighted to finally be working with David Cale on his new play BLUE COWBOY. We've been huge fans of David for years and at last the stars have aligned for us to come together to produce this gorgeously haunting new work. Add legendary director Les Waters to the mix and you've got something truly exceptional kicking off our second season at our new permanent home. David's dynamic storytelling has a way of hitting you on every emotional level. Audiences should expect to leave reconnected with the beauty and the mystery of what it means to be alive and human.”
Videos