Larry Owens to Direct Sherie Rene Scott & More in THE DYING GAUL Staged Reading

Co-Founders Patrick Reilly and Tucker Aust have launched The Queer Ensemble, a theater company and collective of artists that will come together to present works centering the queer perspective from playwrights past and present, queer and non, in a series of live performances in New York City. The collective's inaugural event will be a staged reading of Craig Lucas' The Dying Gaul, directed by Larry Owens (A Strange Loop) on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 in a co-production with Giuliana Carullo of Orsetto Productions at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center. The cast of The Dying Gaul will feature Tony Award nominees Sherie Rene Scott as Elaine and Lou Liberatore as Jeffrey, along with Patrick Reilly as Robert and Michael Hsu Rosen as Foss.

“The Queer Ensemble was created to emphasize queer storytelling in the New York theater scene. Our goal is to craft an environment for the queer community to safely create and digest art, while challenging the current artistic plane with a never before seen point of view,” said Co-Founder Tucker Aust. 

“Craig Lucas' The Dying Gaul tracks the consequences Robert, a novice screenwriter, experiences when extracting the queer narrative of his autobiographical film and replacing it with a straight romance at the behest of a Hollywood producer. To us, it is a cautionary tale of ignoring and deleting the queer narrative and depicts queer rage in a way we feel is often overlooked: humanely. We are thrilled to present this play as The Queer Ensemble's inaugural event,” said Co-Founder Patrick Reilly.

In The Dying Gaul, Robert, a grieving screenwriter, compromises his ideals for wealth, leading him into the seductive world of Hollywood. After helping his dying lover end his suffering, Robert grapples with his own survival and searches for meaning in a world of sexual intrigue and Buddhist teachings. Caught in a love triangle with a ruthless film producer and his neglected wife, Robert becomes entangled in a web of lies that threaten to unravel. This tragic tale explores themes of betrayal and self-deception with humor and heart-wrenching emotion, creating a thrilling dramatic experience.

The Dying Gaul made its debut at Off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre in 1998 in a production directed by Mark Brokaw. It was subsequently adapted into a 2005 film which marked Lucas' feature directorial debut.   

The Queer Ensemble exists to infuse the theatrical culture with queer theory, beliefs, emotion, perspective and action. The collective creates performances where queerness is seen on stage and valued in every aspect from the classics to new works. It's giving Steppenwolf meets Warhol's The Factory. The Queer Ensemble prides itself on the fresh, bold and intelligent takes of the work they present, infusing the vast experiences of the ensemble with a sharp, visionary guest director at the helm of each play's journey. 

Tickets to The Dying Gaul are free of charge and space is extremely limited. Reservations can be made online. 

For more information on The Queer Ensemble, please visit TheQueerEnsemble.com.

Larry Owens

(Director). Award winning multi-hyphenate artist across medium of theatre, television, film, music and comedy. Theater: A Strange Loop  (Actor, Playwrights Horizons. Awards: Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Obie), Larry Owens' Sondheimia (Creator/Director. Carnegie Hall, Cafe Carlyle, Pasadena Playhouse). Selected Onscreen: “Abbott Elementary,” “High Maintenance,” “Search Party,”  A24's Problemista, Sony's Dumb Money, and more. Comedy: Larry Owens Live at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (NextUp Comedy Award Nominee). Writing: Musical comedy scripts developed at FX, Netflix, and Paramount. WGA Award Winner. Owens is the author of three full length musicals and one play: The American Football Musical a satire of The Blind Side-esque sports/white savior films; The Talk Show, about an evil female talk show host (directorial debut, Tribeca Film Festival, under title “The Gag”, starring Sherie Rene Scott); unannounced jukebox musical for Primary Wave records; and Five Sisters, a play about gendered succession written in iambic pentameter and AAVE.

Sherie Rene Scott

(Elaine) is Obie and Lucille Lortel award winning, multiple Drama Desk nominee, and three-time Tony Award nominee for her work as a supporting actor in the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and as a writer and as a lead actor for the musical Everyday Rapture. Sherie can recently be seen in a recurring role on “Harlem” for Amazon and on “The Good Fight” for Paramount+. Prior to that, Sherie had a major recurring role in Showtime's “SMILF.” Most recently in the theater world, Sherie and Norbert Leo Butz performed their highly acclaimed original musical collaboration, Two Hander at Feinstein's / 54 Below. In 2017, Sherie appeared in the sold-out Broadway run of The Front Page with Nathan Lane, John Goodman, and John Slattery. That year she also originated the John Patrick Shanley play The Portuguese Kid off-Broadway with Jason Alexander and portrayed Gertrude in the first half-Farsi Hamlet. Sherie originated the roles of Amneris in The Disney/Elton John & Tim Rice musical Aida, as Christine with John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, alongside Lily Taylor in John Guare's Landscape Of The Body, as Sabina in Kander and Ebb's Over and Over, originating Pepa in Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, as Martha in Randy Newman's Faust, and as Ursula in Disney's The Little Mermaid, among others. Scott can be heard on the original off-broadway cast recording of The Last Five Years along with Norbert Leo Butz. She was an executive producer of the film The Last Five Years starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan. Sherie founded the first independent Broadway and Off-Broadway cast album record label; the multiple Grammy-winning Sh-K-Boom / Ghostlight Records. Sherie was a co-producer of the film The Last Five Years and can be heard on the original Off-Broadway cast album recording originating the role of Cathy. 

Michael Hsu Rosen

(Foss) was most recently seen starring as Ben in Netflix's “Glamorous” opposite Kim Cattrall and Miss Benny. Previous series regular roles include the Netflix sitcom “Pretty Smart” and ballet drama “Tiny Pretty Things.” His other television credits include the Annapurna/Hulu anthology series “Monsterland” opposite Bill Camp, Jessica Jones, The Good Doctor, Looking: The Movie, and Taxi Brooklyn. His film credits include Daughter of the Bride opposite Marcia Gay Harden, Nora Highland, After Class, and the award winning Fox Searchlight short film Lavender. Most recently on stage, Rosen starred as “Alan” in the 2018 Broadway revival of Torch Song opposite Michael Urie and Mercedes Ruehl. While in high school, Rosen performed with the New York City Ballet and made his Broadway debut at seventeen in the 2009 revival of West Side Story before matriculating as an undergraduate at Yale University. He then returned to Broadway in the 2014 revival of On the Town.

Lou Liberatore

(Jeffrey) is a Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for his portrayal of Larry, (alongside John Malkovich and Joan Allen), in Lanford Wilson's Burn This. Lou re-created his role in London (with Malkovich and Juliet Stephenson) as well. He made his Broadway debut in William M. Hoffman's groundbreaking play, As Is, (the first play about the AIDS crisis to premiere on Broadway) - both plays were directed by Marshall W. Mason and developed at the award-winning Circle Repertory Company where Lou began his career, starting as an intern and eventually becoming a longtime company member. Off-Broadway: Bruise & Thorn (Pipeline Theatre Co./ART/NY Theatres), Preparedness (Bushwick Starr/HERE Arts Center), Paradise Lost (FPA/Theatre Row), God Shows Up (Actors Temple), Daniels Husband (Westside Theatre, Primary Stages, Penguin Rep), Orpheus Descending (Bartley/Glezos Productions), A Class Act (New World Stages), A Midsummer's Night Dream (Masterworks Theatre Co.), Pushkin (Sheen Center), Rocket to the Moon (St. Clement's), and has appeared at The Vineyard Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Lark and at the Orpheum, among others. Regional theatre credits include; Angels in America Pt.1&2 (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Intelligent Homosexuals Guide… (Berkeley Rep & Theatre J), 12 Angry Men (Pioneer Theatre), The Diary of Anne Frank & That Championship Season (Westport Playhouse), also appearing at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival, Two River Theatre, The Alley Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and at Steppenwolf, among others. TV/Film: “Law & Order: SVU”. “Law & Order”, “Blindspot”, “The Affair”, “The Good Wife,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Sex and the City,” “Who's The Boss?", "Relay" (with Riz Ahmed), "Barrio Boy", "Blood from a Stoner", "Mary & Louise", "It's My Party" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" (Disney World/Epcot Center). Lou is a graduate of Fordham University (Lincoln Center) and has studied with legendary acting teacher William Esper. Lou is a Member Artist of Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Actor's Center, Circle Repertory Company (1985-1996).

Patrick Reilly

(Co-Founder, Robert). Film and Television credits include “The Other Two” (HBOMax), “Dating My Mother” (HULU), “You Can Stay Over (if you want),” “The D*ck Appointment” (Outfest), and Indiewire's acclaimed web series “Danny the Manny.” He starred in Afterglow Off-Broadway. Pat is also a musician featured on Billboard, and several Spotify editorial playlists. www.patrickreilly.net

TUCKER AUST

(Co-Founder) is a New York based actor and creator. Recent credits include You Can Tell From the Twisted Juniper with Chautauqua Theatre Company, Vatican Falls, Moonchildren, and Can't You Tell! (Queerly Frigid Fest Audience Choice Award). He has appeared in several short films, most recently Frank Avella's Fig Jam. Tucker is also a co-founder of the The Queer Ensemble, a collective of LGBTQ+ performers and artists dedicated to enhancing queer voices in the American Theatre. A graduate of the BFA Acting Program from the University of Southern California. @tuckeraust