LEAR REDUX: A QUANTUM FANTASIA

May 22, 2025 – Jul 13, 2025

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Lear Redux: A Quantum Fantasia 
inspired by the play King Lear by William Shakespeare 

This world premiere production is adapted by John Farmanesh-Bocca
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Acclaimed and prolific stage actor Jack Stehlin stars in Lear Redux, a bold, surprising, and whimsical adaptation of King Lear, directed and adapted by Physical Theatre impresario John Farmanesh-Bocca. Renowned for their celebrated collaborations on Farmanesh-Bocca’s REDUX series—including Tempest Redux (winner of Stage Raw’s Production of the Year and Broadway World’s Production of the Decade for LA regional theater)--Lear Redux reunites the Odyssey Theatre, The New American Theatre, and Not Man Apart – Physical Theatre Ensemble to present Shakespeare’s preeminent drama of family, power, humanity, grief, and acceptance.

Dates, Tickets, SPECIAL EVENTS

May 22, 2025 – Jul 13, 2025
Buy Tickets

General Admission $43
Students $23
30 & Under? $33
(All prices include fees when purchasing with a credit card)
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Previews May 22, 23 at 8pm
Opening May 24 at 8pm, May 25 at 2pm
Wednesday June 11, 25 at 8pm
Friday May 30, June 6, 20, 27, July 11
Saturday May 31, June 7, 14, 21, 28, July 5, 12
Sunday May 25, June 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, July 6. 13

Post Show Discussions
Wednesday, June 11 & 25, Friday, June 20 or upon request for groups larger than 15

Wine Night Fridays
Enjoy complementary wine and snacks with the cast after the show.

VENUE:
The Odyssey Theatre
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Map and Directions here

Cast and Crew

Production

Inspired by the play King Lear by William Shakespeare 
Adapted and Directed by John Farmanesh-Bocca
Scenic Designer Mark Guirguis
Costume Designer Denise Blasor
Lighting Designer Bosco Flanagan
Sound Design by John Farmanesh-Bocca
Prop Designer Jenine MacDonald
Stage Manager Jenny Nwene
Produced in Association with Isabel & Harvey Kibel
Movement Associates Alina Bolshakova, Jones Welsh-Talmadge,
Annie Talmadge
A co-production with The New American Theatre, Not Man Apart – Physical Theatre Ensemble
Produced for the Odyssey Theatre by Beth Hogan
Produced for the The New American Theatre by Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin

Cast

Daughter 2/Regan Eve Danzeisen
Night Nurse/Edmund Andres Velez
Brother/Kent Dennis Gersten
Daughter 1/Goneril Jade Sealey
Actor/Lear Jack Stehlin
Day Nurse/Edgar Ahkei Togun
Cordelia, The Dog Emily Yetter

EVE DANZEISEN
Daughter 2/Regan
Eve Danzeisen is a company member of The New American Theatre where she was seen in Uncle Vanya (LADCC Nomination) & Boxing Lessons. Other LA theatre includes: God of Carnage (Foursome Prod.), 4Play: Sex in a Series (TripLA), Cold Sweat (Atwater Village), The Trip Back Down (Whitefire). Off-Broadway: US premieres of The Body Politic, Romeo and Hamlet, Construction of the Human Heart. With The Old Globe in San Diego: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, Richard III, Sir Patient Fancy, and more. On-camera credits include: The Hardest Part (Tropfest Best Actress Award), Awol, Reason (IndieFest Film Award), Heyday, Guiding Light, & numerous commercials. Education: BA Sarah Lawrence College, MFA The Old Globe. She is forever grateful to be a part of the theatre with all who bring it to life. Thank you for being here.

ANDRES VELEZ
Night Nurse/Edmund
Andres is an actor known for Night Teeth (2021) directed by Adam Randall, El Californio and The Watchful Eye (2023). He also played Young Will in Will Trent, James Cooper in Tracker, Deputy Morgan in You Can’t Run Forever, Anthony Cuevas in CSI: Vegas, and Roman in the Watchful Eye. Velez can also be seen in the independent feature “Coast” which premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Thank you, Sonny & Olive.

DENNIS GERSTEN
Brother/Kent
Dennis recently appeared in Henry IV, 1&2 with The Porters of Hellsgate. He performed at the Odyssey in Tempest Redux and The Hairy Ape; also in LA with New American Theatre, Boston Court, Fountain Theatre, Road Theatre, Andak Stage, Crown City, Company of Angels, Theatre 40, Coeurage Rep, The Huntington, and Hollywood Fringe. He performed three seasons at Coachella Valley Repertory. As co-artistic director of Theatre Unlimited, he directed Indulgences in the Louisville Harem and The Author’s Thumb. He has directed with Interact Theatre, Hollywood Fringe, Road Theatre, 2Cent Theatre, Vineyard Touring Opera, CVArts, The Next Arena, AADA, Open-Door Playhouse, and Los Angeles Shakespeare.As a playwright: The House That Burst, Shamela, Willie Said To, Desert – Morning, Dirty Slut, and Puppy Chow. He is a teaching artist with Inside Out Community Arts/P.S.Arts, and a founding member of Stagewrights, Inc. in NYC, and the Michael Chekhov Studio in L.A.

JADE SEALEY
Daughter 1/Goneril
Jade is a long-time member of the New American Theatre. She joined in 2003, having just moved to Los Angeles from New York. Her NAT stage credits include Uncle Vanya, Macbeth: Revisited, The Number, Julius Caesar, Mooney’s Kid Don’t Cry, The Women, Twelfth Night, The Heiress, Iphigenia, and world premieres of Meanwhile, Back at The Super Lair…, The Circle, Bedfellows, Weedwacker, Sister Cities (Edinburgh Fringe/NAT), Safe, and multiple one act play festivals. New York/Regional stage credits include Sweet Ugly, Green Eyes Dreaming, Sky…No Sky, and Cowboy Mouth. Other theatre/Shakespeare Santa Cruz credits include Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Dream Play, The Taming of the Shrew, Amadeus, Blind Spots, and Kean. Film/TV credits include: Chasing Eagle Rock, How to Cheat, Curb Your Enthusiasm, SNL, No Light and No Land Anywhere, Return to Zero, The Hyperions, Cul De Sac, And Then There Was Eve, Tilt, Greenwood County, Sad Sally, and Fool’s Paradise.

JACK STEHLIN
The Actor/ Lear
Jack is an award-winning actor/director/producer best known on television as DEA Captain Roy Till on Showtime’s Weeds for which he received a SAG award nomination. LA stage credits include New American Theatre productions 63 Trillion, More Lies About Jerzy, The Job, Julius Caesar, Harm’s Way (LA/Off Broadway), Titus Redux (Not Man Apart co-production at Kirk Douglas Theatre and RadarLA), and Odyssey/New American Theatre co-productions Tempest Redux, Creditors, Taming of the Shrew, The Misanthrope, Macbeth, Richard III, Tartuffe, and True West. New York/Regional stage credits include Salome (with Al Pacino), and multiple productions at New York’s The Public Theatre. Films include Chicago 8, Boston Strangler, and Wilde Salome (with Al Pacino). He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and alumnus of John Houseman’s The Acting Company. Jack is a recipient of the 2019 Stage Raw Career Achievement Award. Jack would like to dedicate this performance to the memory of Ron Sossi.

AHKEI TOGUN
Day Nurse/Edgar
Ahkei is an Actor and Producer originally from the East Coast. After transferring from New York, he extended his education in LA and ultimately received his BFA from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Since then, he has prided himself in stage work and has been featured on stages like A Noise Within, The Matrix Theatre and many more. At The Odyssey, Ahkei has played Ensemble in The Serpent, Alan in Picnic, and Daz in Kill Move Paradise. After over a decade of performance, Ahkei decided to add producing to his creative belt; with the intentions of creating a platform and community that felt like home. Since then, he has curated over 20 different shows, connecting and creating with over 100 artists of all kinds. Nonetheless, his passion for acting persists, and he is more than excited to be taking on Lear as his fourth show with the family.

EMILY YETTER
Cordelia, The Dog
Emily is thrilled to return for Lear REDUX after previously appearing in Tempest REDUX at The Odyssey! Tour: Tinker Bell in Peter Pan (Theatre Threesixty) Regional: Regan in The Exorcist (Geffen Playhouse), Mittie in Little Black Shadows (South Coast Repertory), The Oregon Trail (Portland Center Stage), Bolero: Ravel’s Dance for Orchestra (Walt Disney Concert Hall), Title Character in The Night Fairy (SCR), Dee in OZ 2.5 (SCR), workshops: John Proctor is the Villain (SCR), Oz 2.5 (SCR), The Night Fairy (SCR), Television: Grimm, Spooked. Film: Project X, Tearsucker. Emily has also developed and performed in many immersive productions throughout Los Angeles and is a member of Interact Theater Company. She is an aerialist, cookie decorator and cat enthusiast. @lilemscookies

JOHN FARMANESH-BOCCA
Adaptor/Director/Sound Designer
Mr. Farmanesh Bocca is a multi-award-winning Iranian-American theatre director, choreographer and writer, who is best known in the U.S. and abroad for his many modern adaptations of ancient theatrical works. He is the founder of the Los Angeles based theatre company, the award-winning Not Man Apart – Physical Theatre Ensemble, which he now serves as Emeritus Director – ranked by Backstage Magazine in 2014 as one the “13 most innovative physical theatre companies in the world.”  Some of Mr. Farmanesh-Bocca’s Award Winning physical theatre adaptations include, Pericles Redux (European and U.S. Premieres), Wish I Had A Sylvia Plath (Edinburgh Fringe First Award Winner). In Los Angeles: Titus Redux (Kirk Douglas Theatre), As/Is (New American Theatre), Hercules Furens (Getty Villa), and Tempest Redux (Odyssey Theatre). Notable productions directed by John include Ajax in Iraq by Ellen McLaughlin (LA Premiere), Lysistrata Unbound by Eduardo Machado (World Premiere w/Odyssey Theater)

MARK GUIRGUIS
Scenic Designer
Mark has an extensive background in theatre design, with previous credits for the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble including Birds of North America, Lysistrata Unbound (World Premiere), In Circles, and Beckett 5. His set design work spans several prominent theatre companies, including Playhouse on the Square, Circuit Playhouse, Creede Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks (CA), Cape Repertory Theatre Company, and San Diego Repertory Theatre. Additionally, he has worked on productions in Los Angeles, such as Four Places and Bhutan at Rogue Machine Theatre Company, and The Four of Us at Firefly Theatre & Films. Mark is the recipient of multiple design nominations and has earned four Ostrander Awards for excellence in set design. He currently serves as the Head of Undergraduate Design in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of California, San Diego.

DENISE BLASOR
Costume Designer
Denise is a Puerto Rican actor, stage and film director, designer and podcast writer/director/actor and producer. Favorites include directing and performing in the political musical film Calle De La Resistencia (best film finalist, Puerto Rican Critics Association), directing and designing stage revival at Odyssey Theatre of Fefu and Her Friends (KCRW/LA Times Best Play world premiere of Stephanie Walker’s The Abuelas at the Antaeus Theatre, and The Madres at Skylight Theatre/Chicago’s Victory Theatre, directing, designing and performing in Wild in Wichita at LATC/BFA and directing and designing Cristo Vive at the Orpheum Theatre. At the Odyssey Theatre, Denise has designed costumes for plays including Yacobi & Leidental, The Greeks, The Tempest, Lysistrata Unbound and The Unseen Hand. She won Best Latino podcast for her bilingual productions of Tonantzin Guadalupe, Twelve Children Stories, written by Juliette Blasor, as well as new bilingual adaptations of The Nutcracker and Christmas Carol, executive produced by Rene Heredia.a.

BOSCO FLANAGAN
Lighting Designer
Bosco has designed lights for theatre on four continents, winning awards from Edinburgh (Best of Fest), to New York (Fringe Festival award) and Los Angeles (LA Weekly awards). He currently designs in L.A., and his work continues to take him all over the world. Recent work includes: Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet and Snow Geese for ISC in Griffith Park, Violence, Johnny Got His Gun, The Happiness Project, Harlequino, 1984 and Midsummer Night’s Dream and The New Colossus  (World Tours) for the Actors Gang. Naked, Tempest Redux for the Odyssey Theatre (2017 Stage Raw Award for Light Design), and Mine Eyes Have Seen and Bog Of Cats for Theatre Banshee. MacBeth In Rhythm for Shakespeare Center and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and SOS for Wallis Annenberg, Lysistrata Unbound for the Odyssey Theatre and Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Midsummer Nights Dream and Twelfth Night for ISC in the Park. 1984 at the Actors Gang.

JENINE MACDONALD
Properties Designer
Jenine is always excited to return to the Odyssey Theatre. Recent productions include: Alabaster, I Daniel Blake, and Fatherland at Fountain Theatre; Evanston Salt Costs Climbing at Rogue Machine; Antikoni at Native Voices. Previous Odyssey productions include: Stalin’s Master Class, Birds of North America, Picnic, Remembering the Future, God of Carnage, A Public Reading of An Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Paradise, The Death and Life of Mary Jo Kopechne, and Beckett5. Other favorite productions include: Into the Woods and A Little Night Music at Greenway Court Theatre; Singing Revolution at Broadwater Theater; Salvage at Hudson Theatres and Lounge Theatre; The Direction Home at Actors Company; Crime and Punishment at Edgemar Center. Jenine received her BA in Theatre from Columbia College Chicago, and has twice been honored with a StageSceneLA Scenie Award for Outstanding Properties Design.

JENNY NIWENE
Stage Manager
Jenny is thrilled to continue her work with The Odyssey Ensemble and to return for her second show with Not Man Apart, following her involvement in the 2018 production of Lysistrata Unbound. Jenny has been a core member of the Academy of Children’s Theatre (ACT1) since 2016, contributing her expertise to productions such as The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Les Miserables, and Newsies! She has worked on various other theater projects including Constellations at Stella Adler, and Gaslight House at Whitefire Theater. Jenny’s dedication to lighting, technical direction, and stage management is complemented by the strong instruction from her beloved high school teacher Mr. Blount, and continued education at AMDA College & Conservatory of the Performing Arts. ​

JEANNINE WISNOSKY STEHLIN
Co-Producer, Managing Director of The New American Theatre
Producer of 100+ plays for New American Theatre, including many Odyssey Theatre/New American Theatre award-winning co-productions like Tempest Redux (also with Not Man Apart), Tartuffe, Hamlet, Richard III, and True West. For NAT: Titus Redux (w/ Not Man Apart), Creditors, More Lies About Jerzy, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, Bedfellows, and world premieres Sister Cities, Safe, Bedfellows, The Job, Man.gov, and Harm’s Way. As an actor, she has appeared in numerous plays, on improv comedy stages, and films. She made her TV debut as a preschooler on the children’s program Romper Room. In 2019, she received the Stage Raw Career Achievement Award for her contributions to theatre. She served as a Culver City Cultural Affairs Commissioner from 2016 to 2024 and is a recipient of the Culver City Arts Foundation’s 2024 Patron of the Arts Spotlight Award for her work in arts advocacy.

NEWS RELEASE  
Press Contact: LUCY POLLAK

Acclaimed ‘Redux’ series returns with world premiere
of ‘Lear Redux: A Quantum Fantasia’ at Odyssey Theatre
LOS ANGELES (REVISED April 25, 2025) — Renowned for their celebrated collaboration on Tempest Redux (winner of Stage Raw’s Production of the Year and Broadway World’s Production of the Decade for L.A. Regional Theater awards), Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, New American Theatre and Not Man Apart–Physical Theatre Ensemble reunite to present the latest iteration in adapter, director and choreographer John Farmanesh–Bocca’s acclaimed Redux series. Lear Redux: A Quantum Fantasia, inspired by William Shakespeare’s King Lear, opens May 24 at the Odyssey Theatre, where performances continue through July 13. Two low-priced previews take place on May 22 and May 23.

In this boldly evocative, perpetually surprising reconstruction of the Bard’s powerful drama, Jack Stehlin, who previously starred in both Titus Redux at the Kirk Douglas and Tempest Redux at the Odyssey, inhabits the role of an aging actor whose last days strangely parallel those of Shakespeare’s tragic king. Like Shakespeare’s Lear, the actor has three daughters (Eve Danzeisen, Jade Sealey and Emily Yetter). He also has a trio of caretakers: his brother (Dennis Gersten) and two home-health nurses (Ahkei Togun and Andres Velez). Like its predecessors in the series, Lear Redux employs a potent mix of physical theater and verbal gymnastics to tell its timeless tale of family, power, humanity, grief and acceptance.

“The purpose of the Redux Shakespeare series is to not only re-examine a well-known play through a modern, emotional relatability, but make it wildly entertaining by adding an abundant dose of physicality, humor and whimsy,” explains Farmanesh-Bocca. “We want to leave the audience feeling more intimately familiar with the source material — and for the conversation on the way home from the theater to be an exciting and deep one about life, love and family.”
Past Redux shows have been called “exciting and propulsive” by the Los Angeles Times and “an absolute must-see” by the UK Independent. The Scotsman wrote, “Don’t be surprised to find yourself laughing and crying at the same time.”

The creative team includes scenic designer Mark Guirguis; lighting designer Bosco Flanagan; costume designer Denise Blasor; and props designer Jenine MacDonald. Sound is designed by Farmanesh-Bocca. The stage manager is Jenny Nwene. Odyssey Theatre Ensemble acting artistic director Beth Hogan and New American Theatre managing executive director Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin produce.

John Farmanesh-Bocca is a multi-award-winning Iranian-American theater director, choreographer and writer who is best known in the U.S. and abroad for his modern adaptations of ancient theatrical works. He is the founder of the award-winning Not Man Apart – Physical Theatre Ensemble, ranked by Backstage in 2014 as one of the “13 most innovative physical theater companies in the world,” for which he now serves as emeritus director. Some of his award-winning physical theater adaptations include Pericles Redux (European and U.S. premieres), Wish I Had A Sylvia Plath (Edinburgh Fringe First Award winner), and, in Los Angeles, Titus Redux (Kirk Douglas Theatre), As/Is (New American Theatre), Hercules Furens (Getty Villa), and Tempest Redux (Odyssey Theatre). Notable directing credits include the Los Angeles premiere of Ajax in Iraq by Ellen McLaughlin and the world premiere of Lysistrata Unbound by Eduardo Machado at the Odyssey Theatre.

Jack Stehlin is an award-winning actor/director/producer best known on television as DEA Captain Roy Till on Showtime’s Weeds for which he received a SAG award nomination. L.A. stage credits include New American Theatre productions 63 Trillion, More Lies About Jerzy, The Job, Julius Caesar, Harm’s Way (LA/Off Broadway), Titus Redux (Not Man Apart co-production at Kirk Douglas Theatre and RadarLA), and Odyssey/New American Theatre co-productions Tempest Redux, Creditors, Taming of the Shrew, The Misanthrope, Macbeth, Richard III, Tartuffe, and True West. New York/Regional stage credits include Salome (with Al Pacino) and multiple productions at New York’s Public Theater. Films include Chicago 8, Boston Strangler, and Wilde Salome (with Al Pacino). He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and alumnus of John Houseman’s The Acting Company. Jack is a recipient of the 2019 Stage Raw Career Achievement Award. Jack dedicates this performance to the memory of Odyssey Theatre founding artistic director Ron Sossi.

The New American Theatre is a company of professional actors and theater artists working in stage, film, television and new media with the mission to inspire, educate and nurture a thoughtful and humane worldview through the art of storytelling. Founded by Jack Stehlin in 1983 as Circus Theatricals, New American Theatre has earned critical acclaim, awards and nominations on both coasts and was named one of five “Top 99-Seat Theaters in L.A.” by CBS Los Angeles.

Founded in 1969 by Ron Sossi, a pioneer in the intimate theater movement who remained at the company’s helm for 56 years until his recent death on March 19 at the age of 85, the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble is one of Los Angeles’ most adventurous companies, offering world-class live theater experiences in its three-theater complex in West Los Angeles.

Performances of Lear Redux take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. from May 24 through July 13 (dark Friday, July 4), with previews set for Thursday, May 22 and Friday, May 23 at 8 p.m. There will be two additional weeknight performances, on Wednesday, June 11 and Wednesday, June 25, each at 8 p.m. and each followed by a post-performance discussion; there will also be a post-performance discussion on Friday, June 20. Every Friday night is “Wine Night” at the Odyssey: enjoy complimentary wine and snacks and mingle with the cast after the show.

The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025. Tickets range from $20 to $43. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 477-2055 or go to OdysseyTheatre.com.




Details for Calendar Listings
‘Lear Redux: A Quantum Fantasia’


WHAT:
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, New American Theatre and Not Man Apart–Physical Theatre Ensemble unite to present the world premiere of Lear Redux: A Quantum Fantasia. The final days of an aging actor strangely parallel those of Shakespeare’s tragic king in this evocative, perpetually surprising reconstruction of William Shakespeare’s King Lear that features a potent mix of physical theater and verbal gymnastics.

WHO:
• Adapted, Directed and Choreographed by John Farmanesh–Bocca
• Inspired by the play King Lear by William Shakespeare
• Starring Eve Danzeisen, Dennis Gersten, Jade Sealey, Jack Stehlin, Ahkei Togun, Andres Velez, Emily Yetter
• Produced by Beth Hogan and Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin
• A co-production of Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, The New American Theatre and Not Man Apart–Physical Theatre Ensemble

WHEN:
May 22 through July 13
• Previews: Thursday, May 22 and Friday, May 23 at 8 p.m.
• Performances: May 24 through July 13: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. / Sundays at 2 p.m. / Wednesday, June 11 and Wednesday, June 25 at 8 p.m.  (dark Friday, July 4)

OTHER:
• Post-performance discussions on Wednesday, June 11; Friday, June 20; and Wednesday, June 25
• Wine Night Fridays: Enjoy complimentary wine and snacks with the cast following Friday night performances.

WHERE:
Odyssey Theatre
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90025

TICKET PRICES:
$20-$43

HOW:
OdysseyTheatre.com
(310) 477-2055 ext. 2
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