YEAR OF THE ROOSTER Opens at CoHo Season 22, 10/27

Year of the Rooster is a furious, foul-mouthed, comedic attack on heavy-weight subjects like rural poverty, animal cruelty and toxic masculinity in America.

"Ya gotta have winners and losers in this world."

Gil is a loser in a loser town. He still lives with his mama, with no friends or future plans, just the 19-year old manager at McDonald's who bullies his broken spirit while dreaming of Disney World and world domination. Gil's chance at winning the American Dream is a nightmare until he gets a prize-fighting rooster named Odysseus Rex. Cockfighting was invented by the ancient Greeks (just like Democracy); now illegal in all 50 states. The stakes are life and death, the rooster is on stage - what are you willing to bet he wins?

Year of the Rooster premiered in November 2013 at Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York. Since then, it has been produced at nine theatres nationally including Impact Theatre in Berkeley, Single Carrot Theatre in Baltimore, and Red Theatre in Chicago. CoHo's production will be the first in Oregon.

Olivia Dufault's plays include Year of the Rooster (New York Times Critics' Pick), The Tomb of King Tot (New York Times Critics' Pick), The Messenger, and For Want of a Horse. Her plays have been performed at the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Youngblood, Clubbed Thumb, the Flea Theatre, and the Marin Theatre, amongst others.

She is the 2015-16 Rita Goldberg Playwrights' Workshop Fellow and 2013-14 PoNY Fellow, as well as the recipient of the 2015 Playwrights of New York Fellowship, the 2013 David Colicchio Emerging Playwright Award, the 2010 Lipkin Playwriting Award, and the 2008, 2009, and 2010 Harle Adair Damann Playwriting Award. She currently writes for the AMC television show Preacher. She is a member of New Dramatists, the LCT Writers in Residence, and the Youngblood Playwriting Group.

Alexandra Kuechler-Caffall is a Brooklyn based Stage Director originally from Sandy, Oregon. She began her career working as a costume designer at Artists Repertory Theater until moving to New York City to pursue her MFA in Directing at the New School. Recent productions include HAMLET (St. Johns, NYC), ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE (University of Rochester), CHOP YOUR OWN WOOD (NY International Fringe), and WHAT'S YOUR NAME DEAR? (Atelier Roquette). Her work has appeared at The Duke on 42nd, Baryshnikov Arts Center, NY International Fringe, Curtis Institute, Walker Arts Center and The Public Theater. In 2015 she co-founded Bonneville Theater Company with her husband Tyler Caffall and playwright/actress Lindsey Trout Hughes. Upcoming work includes adapting Don DeLillo's WHITE NOISE for the stage with Daniel Fish with whom she is a regular collaborator.

Michael O'Connell returns to the CoHo stage where he previously appeared in The Few. Other credits include The Nether, The Realistic Joneses, The Night Alive, Middletown, Sweet and Sad, That Hopey Changey Thing, Penelope, Last of the Boys, The Lying Kind (Drammy), A Skull in Connemara, Shining City, Nobody Here But Us Chickens, Number Three, The Pavilion, The Lonesome West, Dirty Story and Recent Tragic Events (Drammy) at Third Rail; PETE's Three Sisters; Much Ado about Nothing, Another Fine Mess at Portland Center Stage; House and Garden, A Midsummer Night's Dream, An Owen Meany Christmas Pageant, Art, The Weir, and Three Days of Rain at Artists Repertory Theatre; Telethon, and The Huntsmen at Portland Playhouse, Profile Theater's The Homecoming; and Clackamas Rep's The Odd Couple. New York credits include: Leir Rex, La Mama; Pentecost, Five Points Theater; The Middle Watch, Theater Outrageous; and Lovers at The Players Club. Regionally: A Christmas Carol, Two Gentleman of Verona, and Speed the Plow, UMKC; Suburbia, The Unicorn Theater; and Taming of the Shrew, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. Michael is a certified Fitzmaurice Voicework Associate Teacher, and teaches at Portland State University and privately throughout the community. MFA, University of Missouri at Kansas City.

Rolland Walsh's previous productions include Weekend at Bernie's: Live on Stage at The Funhouse Lounge in Portland, as well as Thom Pain (based on nothing) and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at Club Oberon in Cambridge, MA. In Portland, Rolland has acted with Third Rail Repertory Theater, Portland Center Stage, Artist's Repertory Theater, Portland Playhouse and others. He received his MFA in Acting from The American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater School Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University, is a core company member of Third Rail Repertory Theater, and a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.

For 22 years, CoHo Productions has pioneered artist led co-production as a model of creating theatre. Each season, CoHo solicits scripts and project proposals from Portland's community of theatre professionals and selects three to produce in partnership. The artistic vision is democratic, reflecting the tastes of the Portland theatre community from the ground up. Seasons are diverse and unpredictable; the sole quality nurtured and insisted on is excellence.

October 27 - November 18, 2017 Thursday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2pm
(Right) Rolland Walsh as Gil in Year of the Rooster

CoHo Theater
2257 NW Raleigh St.
Portland, OR 97210
(503) 220 - 2646 www.cohoproductions.org TICKETS $32 Single Ticket
$25 Single Ticket +65/-30
$20 Thrifty Thursday Ticket

 

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