In spite of the great ordeal that 2020 has presented to most of us, we at the Odyssey are chomping at the bit to get back into action, creating for you the best of LA theatre work. 

Thanks to a PPP Small Business Association grant last May and to the generosity of our Board, subscribers and donors we’re caring for our spaces, big and small. From revamping the theatres, putting in hardwood floors rather than carpeting, painting, improving dressing rooms and greenroom, we want to provide as much comfort and care to make your experience as safe as possible.

I’d like to thank all our artists whose work was side-lined in March 2020 for their patience and understanding and our staff, some of whom have been volunteering, doing lots of play readings, writing of grants and strategizing provocative new productions.

Of course our plans for reopening are very much in flux, as we all continue to adapt our lives to the pandemic. But we expect to be back, as soon as it is safe, with a roar of creativity and stubbornness. 

 I do hope that you all survived these last many months with spirit, health and aplomb. All of us here at the Odyssey miss you and will be very excited to see you in the flesh once again!

Ron Sossi

SYNOPSIS

LOST MIND is a narrative dance film exploration of the psyche by director, writer, and choreographer Sara Silkin. The film recounts her inability to identify her father’s mental illness throughout her life. With her powerful application of surrealist movement imagery, she recreates the emotional physical highs experienced during a manic episode, followed by the endless spirals of depression caused by bipolar disorder.

CREDITS

Dancers: Hyosun Choi & JM Rodriguez
Narrator: Lori Dorfman

Producer: L.A. Contemporary Dance Company
Director & Choreographer: Sara Silkin
Song: Patrick Watson

DP: Iain Trimble
AC: Joe Ashi
Editor: Kevin Tadge
Colorist: New Gate Films
Costumes: Kelsey Vidic
Poster: Youthana Yuos

Filmed in 2020 as a part of LACDC’s Fall Commissions

Projected in 2022

The Eerie Atlas

As in “Just in Time” (Letters to Dance), a 2018 co-production with Los Angeles’ Geothe-Institut, Berlin’s deufert&plischke return to the Odyssey with The Eerie Atlas. Through community workshops, local personal stories will be collected to create a panorama exploring the complex and universal subject of fear. These stories will be shared with the public through a choreographed series of “walkable” audio drama performances where sound, movement and touch will be use to bring the stories to life.

Find out more about deufert&plischke  https://deufertandplischke.net/

In 2018 the Odyssey Theatre together with the Goethe Institut Los Angeles produced the West Coast premiere of the worldwide interactive project JUST IN TIME created by renowned German choreographers Kattrin Deufert and Thomas Plischke. Other participating cities include New York, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Brussels, Singapore and Reykjavik

To me, William Inge’s romantic masterwork PICNIC is a potent mix of deeply human juxtapositions—love and family, morality and longing, fortune and desperation, idealism and reality, frailty and resilience, fear and courage, prejudice and acceptance, small towns and big cities—Essentially, it’s about America.

I was eager to tell a story about America—an idea still struggling to live up to its promise, searching for its soul. To me, it seemed that the American story was deeply embedded in the Black American experience. A country built largely on the skills and forced labor of its generationally deep residents.

I wasn’t sure if it would work, I was loathed to change a word of text, but it turned out, not a single word needed to be adjusted. The play, in the hands of a black cast, rang like a bell. Rather than narrowing the scope, it only expanded the scope of the story of America, inviting us to celebrate how unique and similar our human experiences are.

This sweet story of innocence, explores the enormous question of identity; identity of self and the Country we live in.

We were 10 days into rehearsal when we had to stop because of COVID. We had been casting and designing since November, so it was heart-breaking to walk away.

The actors and I have continued to work over Zoom. The play keeps revealing itself, and in a COVID world, it teems with relevancies. What is the value of a life? What is the value of a vulnerable life? Can a marriage survive crisis? What do you do in the face of utter isolation?

But the gift of this play is the catharsis it offers. In the hands of these actors, it makes me laugh and it makes me cry. Every time I hear it. That kind of release is a gift right now.

As a storyteller—as a Black storyteller, rarely are you given the chance to be a part of an entire cast that looks like you without the story being racially charged. So when John approached me with Picnic, it was so refreshing to know the storyline had nothing to do with the color of my skin; a privilege that is even unbeknownst to the very people who have it-a privilege of being able to express all the range that the human species can have with no repercussions or doubts. This production isn’t to challenge but to open and share the very commonalities we think are so different.

After the script, I remember instantly falling in love with the entire community. William Inge lays out this simplistic town lead by dynamic people. Whether from cross generations, different levels of education to the knowledge of dance moves, the ensemble works so intricately together in carrying out the message of Love and Legacy. I feel our version of Picnic will only heighten this heartfelt experience Inge intended.

Hello dear audience and supporters,

The temper of these times is hard to fathom for most of us. The pandemic, social unrest, a divided populace, rampant unemployment, the coming election and now, growing disregard for health and safety measures, etc., boggle the mind. I can only hope that, as has been proven in the past, the arts will survive and will ultimately rise like the Phoenix and reflect upon the enormity and absurdity of these times.

Of course, Theatre is a crucial part of these arts and perhaps the most graphic in finally reflecting upon what has happened and what is happening. At the same time, because we are a “live” form, dependent upon human congregation, we will be at the bottom of the list in terms of safely reopening. (And we’re committed to going substantially beyond the legal requirements.)

As an update, I can only tell you that we’re stubbornly holding our own and ardently preparing for the future. At the Odyssey it’s been a flurry of activity, utilizing our small SBA loan/grant, to do eight weeks of overhauling the building, making it more functional and safe for our forthcoming reopening.

This includes stripping away carpeting and rebuilding seating risers with hardwood surfaces (much more easily sanitized), re-doing seating plans to accommodate social distancing, strategizing new ways to implement safe ticket buying and use of the bathrooms, secure paths to our three theatre spaces and an added outdoor box office window that will accommodate distancing, etc.

Simultaneously, on the creative and programmatic side we’re looking not only at projects we had previously planned, but also ones relevant to the current situation

Meanwhile, I’m hoping sincerely that you are all secure and safe, and I really look forward to our meeting again…sooner rather than later. I wish you the very best. We miss you.

Warmly,

Ron Sossi
Artistic Director

If you wish to send a contribution by mail, please send to:

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025