Dates Set For ODYSSEY At The Old Globe, Presented Sept 1, Oct 1-2

Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced that theater director Lear deBessonet and writer Todd Almond have developed a new music theater event, Odyssey, in celebration of The Old Globe's 75th anniversary. Commissioned by the Globe two years ago, the new work reimagines Homer's epic poem as seen through the lens of contemporary San Diego. Conceived and directed by deBessonet with music, lyrics and book by Almond, Odyssey will be performed through a unique collaboration between professional artists and community partners from the San Diego region. Odyssey will be presented on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 and 2 in the Globe's Lowell Davies Festival Theatre.

"The Globe began in 1935 as part of the California Exposition celebration," said Executive Producer Lou Spisto. "From those roots and a strong commitment from the community, the theater became an integral part of the fabric of San Diego, operating as both a community and professional theater for many years. At the time of its founding, this institution reflected the community of its time. This project celebrates a more diverse San Diego today, and I felt that it was absolutely essential to include our partners in Southeastern San Diego and the community at large in this theatrical celebration."

Spisto continued: "I approached Lear two years ago because of her successful collaborations with communities and her unique voice, and Todd is one of the most exciting writers working in musical theater today. Their retelling of this iconic story is the result of countless meetings we have had with members of the community that will honor both The Old Globe and San Diego."

Odyssey is part of the Globe's Southeastern San Diego Residency Project supported by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation's Artistic Innovation Fund.
Lear deBessonet (Director) has created large-scale site-specific theatrical events pairing artistic excellence with community organizing in New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Kazakhstan and Cambodia. In 2006 she was named one of Time Out New York's 25 People to Watch, and in 2008 she was honored with the first annual Presidential Award for Artistic Excellence by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council alongside Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Edward Albee. She most recently conceived and directed On the Levee for Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 (seven Audelco nominations, Time Out Best of 2010). In May 2009, her site-specific Don Quixote, a community-based collaboration with homeless shelter Broad Street Ministry and the punk-gypsy ensemble The Psalters, premiered in Philadelphia and was named in "Best Shows of 2009" by Philadelphia Weekly. Other recent work includes a country-blues adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's Saint Joan of the Stockyards at PS122, transfigures, produced Off Broadway by Women's Project, and Death Might Be Your Santa Claus, a site-specific work performed at an abandoned bank next to the New York Stock Exchange. Other credits include In the Dark Ages (National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Kazakhstan), The Scarlet Letter (Intiman Theatre), Monstrosity (Thirteen Playwrights, Inc.), My Fair Lady (Ten Thousand Things), Oliver! (New York University Experimental Theatre Wing) and When I Was a Ghost (Guthrie Theater). She has worked with writers Marcus Gardley, Naomi Iizuka, Deborah Stein and Lucy Thurber. She has assisted Martha Clarke, Anne Bogart, Bartlett Sher and Theatre du Soleil and is an alumna of the Drama League Director's Project, the Women's Project Directors Lab and the Soho Repertory Theater Writer/Director Lab. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Director's Fellowship, she has also acted as a visiting professor at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.

Todd Almond (Music, Lyrics and Book) is a composer, lyricist and playwright. His musicals include We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Yale Repertory Theatre, with playwright Adam Bock, directed by Anne Kauffman), On the Levee (Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3, directed by Lear deBessonet), Girlfriend (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, with songwriter Matthew Sweet, directed by Les Waters, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Book of a Musical), People Like Us (directed by Gus Kaikkonen), Ahraihsak (Theater Mitu, directed by Ruben Polendo) and Kansas City Choir Boy (directed by Sam Gold). Almond served as Music Director for the world premiere of Michael John LaChiusa's Tres Niñas, and he has written musicals for both The Juilliard School and The Graduate School of Arts and Science of New York University. He has also music-directed and reconceived classic works, most notably Hair at the Skirball Cultural Center. In addition to having some of the theater world's top singers perform his music (Sherie Rene Scott, Victoria Clark, Cheyenne Jackson, Jayne Houdyshell, Laura Benanti and more), Almond regularly performs his own material in New York City's top venues and he recently released a CD of original songs entitled Mexico City. He has been an Artist-in-Residence at Sundance (both the Utah Playwrights Conference and the Ucross Playwrights' Retreat), Vassar College (with New York Theatre Workshop) and The Orchard Project. Almond is currently collaborating with Warren Leight and Stafford Arima on a musical adaptation of John Knowles' novel A Separate Peace.

LOCATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available ($10). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org.

CALENDAR: Life of Riley (4/30-6/5), August: Osage County (5/7-6/12), Much Ado About Nothing (5/29-9/24), The Tempest (6/5-9/25), Amadeus (6/12-9/22), Hershey Felder as George Gershwin Alone (7/1-7/10), Hershey Felder in Maestro: The Art of Leonard Bernstein (7/15-8/28).

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