Odyssey Theatre Ensemble News

This production of Inge’s play (also a 1955 movie) has its moments while consistently delivering the longing, the dissatisfaction and, yes, also the sensuality that PICNIC offers up. ur critic think of PICNIC at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble?

With the performance on Friday, March 31 sold out, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble's Music at the Odyssey series has added a second evening of music from Rodgers and Hammerstein and Cole Porter on Friday, April 28.

Picnic, the sensual, passionate and delightfully funny Pulitzer Prize winning play by William Inge, opens tonight at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in an all-new production directed John Farmanesh-Bocca. Check out the photos, below.

John Farmanesh-Bocca is a multi-award-winning physical theatre director, the Founding Artistic Director of both Not Man Apart - Physical Theatre Ensemble (2005-2015) and Shakespeare Santa Monica (2003-2014). Now he has shifted gears to go on a search for America by directing the sensual, passionate, and delightfully funny Pulitzer Prize winning play Picnic by William Inge, with his version featuring an entirely Black American cast. I decided to speak with him about his vision for presenting the quintessentially American play and the unique challenges faced while shifting gears from physical movement to character development.

First look photos! Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents the U.S. premiere of Yaacobi & Leidental, a funny, provocative romp with music written by Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin featuring songs by Alex Kagan, opened over the weekend in Los Angeles. Tel Aviv-based director Yonatan Esterkin helms a new translation by Naaman Tamuz that was recently commissioned by the Levin estate, and Nisha Sujatha Arunasalam is music director.

Written in 1780, Hannah Cowley's rom-com romp is a witty parody that upends the conventional gender norms and marital expectations of eighteenth-century English society. The “belles” at the center of the play concoct two distinct stratagems, or ruses, to change the minds of the men in their lives and subvert the status quo.

Threshholds of Invention is Odyssey Theatre Ensemble's new series, curated by actor, director, musician and performance artist Tony Abatemarco, of first looks at pieces-in-progress by prominent L.A. visionaries working in pop-up form. Next up in April: new work by Sandra Tsing Loh and Michael Kearns.

LA Theatre Week, a two-week-long celebration of the performing arts, will be happening from March 13 to 26. With tickets to more than 75 productions starting at just $20, beginning on February 27th, audiences will be able to experience high-caliber shows at prices that democratize access to the best of LA culture.

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble will present a revival of Picnic, the sensual, passionate, and delightfully funny Pulitzer Prize-winning play by William Inge. Directed by multiple award winner John Farmanesh-Bocca (Tempest Redux, Lysistrata Unbound), performances will run March 25 through May 28 at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A.

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents the U.S. premiere of Yaacobi & Leidental, a funny, provocative romp with music written by Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin and featuring songs by Alex Kagan.

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble will present a limited two-performance engagement of Norwid’s Return (Powrót Norwida),

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s Music at the Odyssey series, curated by music director and bass player John Snow, will return in the New Year with two performances celebrating Stephen Sondheim and musical theater.

Veteran director, Phil Scarpaci will direct the Scarpaci/Kelly production of Chapatti, a play by Christian O'Reilly at The Sherry Theatre.

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble joins with Tony Abatemarco to produce Thresholds of Invention, a new series of first looks at pieces-in-progress by prominent L.A. visionaries working in pop-up form.

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble will kick off 2023 with its sixth annual Dance at the Odyssey festival, once again celebrating new and cutting edge contemporary dance in Los Angeles.

Senate Bill 1116, a measure introduced by Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) which seeks to create a payroll fund to support small nonprofit performing arts venues (SNPAOs), was signed into law September 29, 2022 by Governor Newsom. 

The 13th Annual United Solo Theatre Festival presents the NYC premiere of Rachel Kaftan's BOY VEY, directed by Dana Resnick, on October 29 at 2 pm and November 1 at 7 pm at Studio Theatre, Theatre Row 410 West 42nd Street.

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble is presenting the Los Angeles premiere of what may be Henrik Ibsen's most controversial play, Ghosts, adapted by acclaimed British director Richard Eyre and directed by Bart DeLorenzo, a Los Angeles-based theater director and producer who is the founding artistic director of the Evidence Room theater, a 17-year-old company renowned in Los Angeles for contemporary theater productions. I decided to speak with Bart about what led him to direct this new adaptation at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble.

Los Angeles is never lacking outstanding theatre, whether epic Broadway shows, engrossing dramas or bold fringe offerings. BroadwayWorld is rounding up our top recommended theatre every month. Coming up in September are The Sound of Music, The Inheritance, Sanctuary City and more!

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble will present a compelling revival of Nichols’ semi-autobiographical dark comedy, directed by Ethan Maniquis. Public previews begin October 5. Performances will continue through November 21 at the Odyssey’s three-theater complex in West L.A.