The collaborative “antiopera” El gallo: Ópera para actores (The Cock: An Opera for Actors), which was produced from 2007 to 2009 by Mexican theatre company Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes (hereafter referred to as Ciertos Habitantes) and British composer Paul Alan Barker, toured for three years to dozens of venues in Mexico and abroad, garnering numerous awards and accruing more than a hundred performances. Performed in speech/song gibberish, El gallo mingles physical theatre and butoh techniques. The piece chronicles the making of an opera, from auditions through rehearsals and performance, alongside the emotional, physical, and vocal breakdowns of the five main characters and their beleaguered director. El gallo enacts an allegory of conflict-ridden community formation through the device of a play within a play.