On Tour
2023-2024 Season

 

in association with Marin Theatre Company

ODYSSEY

Written and Directed by Lisa Peterson°

Based on Homer’s The Odyssey Translated by Emily Wilson


Set in a present-day relocation center for refugees on the Isle of Lesbos, four young women fleeing conflict in Middle Eastern, North African and Eastern European countries await the next step of their quest for home and family. Through the extraordinary characters of this epic tale, the women explore what it is to host a stranger, follow the rules of generosity, question what it means to belong without a “place” to call home, and discover the thrill of adventure at the heart of it all. Odyssey promises to bring bold theatricality, humor, and grace to a story we all think we know. This production from New York’s The Acting Company is in association with Marin Theatre Company and receiving its world premiere in Mill Valley, CA—the first stop on a nationwide tour.

 

  • Layla Khoshnoudi*

    (Anoud) is an Iranian-Texan actress based in New York. She received an MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College. Select theater credits include Men on Boats (Clubbed Thumb); 7 Minutes (Waterwell); Dance Nation (Playwrights Horizons); Bull in a China Shop (Lincoln Center); Dido of Idaho (Ensemble Studio Theater); I am Gordafarid (Noor Theater); Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater); Will You Come With Me? (Play Company); Nobody’s Girl (NJ Rep); Wyoming (Lesser America). TV: “Instinct” (CBS); FBI (CBS); “All Hail Beth” (BricTV), “My Ex is Trending” (YouTube). Film: Long Nights, Short Mornings; Bad at Birthdays. Short films: Nadia Jaan; Androgen; Bookends.

  • Zamo Mlengana*

    (Zee) is thrilled to be making her stage debut in Lisa Peterson’s Odyssey. Zamo recently earned a BA in Fine Arts from New York City’s famed The Juilliard School, where she was a Shubert Foundation Scholar. Zamo proudly hails from Johannesburg, South Africa. She would like to thank God, her family and team for always supporting her.

  • Anya Whelan-Smith*

    (Hana) recently completed a run of Hamlet at the Guthrie Theater, playing Ophelia. Other theater credits include: 2022 New Works Festival (Gulfshore Playhouse), His Girl Friday (Barrington Stage Company), A Class Act (Berkshire Theatre Group), Macbeth and Taming of the Shrew (MaineStage Shakespeare repertory) and Blue Ridge (Williamstown Theater Festival, Original Workshop Production). TV: “FBI: International” (CBS), “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC). Film: Fall to Rise, Pizza Party, Souvenir Drunk (upcoming). MFA Acting, The Juilliard School.

  • Sophie Zmorrod*

    (Béa) Sophie Zmorrod is an actor, vocalist and playwright based in Brooklyn, New York. Theatre: Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd (Trinity Repertory Company), Marjana and the Forty Thieves (Target Margin Theater), INVASION! (Ancram Opera House), Miss U in Promenade (The María Irene Fornés Marathon at The Public), Hamlet in Machine Learning Hamlet (MetaPhys Ed), The Protest (Cherry Lane Theatre), Ocean Filibuster (Pearl D’Amour) and James Joyce’s The Dead (Hangar Theatre). Brown/Trinity Rep: Robin in Wolf Play, Yitzak in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Death in Everybody, Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, and Mona in Lex Derman’s Playhouse. Film/TV: “For Life” (ABC/Hulu). MFA in Acting from Brown/Trinity Rep, Stephen Sondheim Fellow and David Wickham Prize in Playwriting. BA cum laude in Music from Columbia University. www.sophiezmorrod.com

 

MEET THE CAST

Layla Khoshnoudi*, Anoud

Zamo Mlengana*, Zee
Abiola Obatolu*, Swing

Anya Whelan-Smith*, Hana

Sophie Zmorrod*, Béa

MEET THE CREATIVE TEAM

Scenic Design by Tanya Orellana†

Costume Design by Sarita Fellows†

Lighting Design by Russell H. Champa†

Sound Design by Sinan Refik Zafar†

Original Songs by Masi Asare

Voice and Speech Coach Xavier Clark

Dramaturg Jesse Cameron Alick

Associate Director, Staff Director Margaret Lee

Text and Script Consultant Janice Paran

Casting by Laura Schutzel, CSA

Production Stage Manager Stephanie Weinzapfel


STAFF FOR ODYSSEY

Movement Coordinator Margaret Lee

Assistant Stage Manager Cello Blanks

Associate Costume Designer Matthew Lott

Assistant Scenic Designer Danielle DeLaFuente

Assistant Lighting Designer Charlie Mejia

Rehearsal Props Lead Anna Dorodnykh

Guitar Coach & Additional Arrangements Peter Douskalis

EDI Consultant Jacqueline Lawton

Production Assistant Elisaveta Alekumova

Hair Consultant Cody Ainey

Loudspeaker Voice & Additional Greek by Ifigenia Gonis
Production Stills by Kevin Berne

Key Art Illustration by Shirien Damra

TOUR STAFF

Production Manager & Audio Supervisor Row Walters

Company Manager Esther Bermann

Technical Director Rob White

Lighting Supervisor Alissa Shea

Wardrobe Supervisor Margarita R. Herrera

°The Director is a member of the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union.
†Designers represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.