King Lear (The Land of the Free) at Z Space's Steindler Stage

Oakland Theater Project and New Performance Traditions present a music-infused co-production of William Shakespeare's King Lear, directed by Michael Socrates Moran with original music composed by Paul Dresher, performed live by the Dresher|Davel Invented Instrument Duo. The cast includes J Jha as Lear, Rinde Eckert as The Fool, Dean Linnard as Edmund, Sarah Kasuga as Goneril, Natalie Pasquinelli as Regan, and Dina Zarif as Cordelia, among others. In the twilight of his rule, a king divides his kingdom among his three daughters, mistaking flattery for love and ushering in a reign of domination, cruelty and collapse. The production pits spectacle, excess and absurdity against ritual and redemption in a contemporary staging of Shakespeare's tragedy.