About the play
Sti Cazzi’s first production. Starring and directed by Élisabeth Malanga (Cavale), Susannah Yezzi (Slim), and Conor Spangfort (Lobster Man). A queer reimagining of Patti Smith and Sam Shepard’s Cowboy Mouth. Staged in a frat-house living room. Complete with a live jazz band, papier-mâché lobster head, and ballet.
Written collaboratively over the course of a whirlwind night, Cowboy Mouth follows Slim and Cavale, two aspiring rock and roll stars, based largely on Sam Shepard and Patti Smith, themselves. Cavale, with her giant dead crow, has kidnapped Slim and is holding him at gunpoint in a dirty motel room, away from his wife and children. Her goal is to make him into a rock star. They discuss art, poetry, love, and the American Dream. The pair call in the Lobster Man to bring them room service, and the play ends with him having transformed into the God of Rock and Roll.
Ours was a reckless, wild, raw, queer interpretation of Smith and Shepard’s play. A live jazz band (Victor Jung, Niko Hunter, and Ben Parkhurst) underscored the play, while the actors danced, raged, and mused.
“Some could synthesize the energy of the room as Raunchy Sexual Grunge….fantastically weird…the show seemed like it wanted to just exist within itself. It didn’t want to be defined by what a traditional play should have, but instead, be remembered for its peculiar and intimate nature. As a member of the audience, we felt as though we were witnessing something we should not have been—but in the best way.”
— BWOG, Columbia Student News
The Sti Cazzi Players 