Odyssey Theatre Announces THRESHOLDS OF INVENTION Performance Series Curated By Tony Abatemarco

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.

Opening the series on Saturday, January 14 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 15 at 2 p.m., I Don't Know, I Know is a mash-up of movement, memoir and mayhem created and performed by Abatemarco and Jan Munroe. Mixing movement vocabulary with memoirs of their performance histories in disappeared venues and as-yet unwritten archives, a parallel world emerges - part Samuel Beckett, part Mummenschanz - in which survival depends upon cohesion, resistance and the persistent renewal of creative impulses.

Under the watchful gaze of "puppet-master/director" Kyle Secor, Abatemarco and Munroe, who have worked together and individually for over 40 years to create interdisciplinary work that meets in the "grey area" between theater, performance art and dance, explore a landscape of diminishing skills and shrinking opportunities, leading to an absurd series of incidents. The piece features sound design by Tim Labor.

Next up in the series will be one performance of Bring the Old Pageants: Uncle Walt Explains It All, derived from the works of Walt Whitman, on Saturday, January 28 at 8 p.m. Conceived and directed by Darrell Larson, best known for directing and acting in plays by Sam Shepard and Murray Mednick as well as for his work in TV and film, the piece features Larson, Abatemarco and Munroe alongside performance artist John Fleck, theater luminary and artist-activist Michael Kearns, and veteran actors Jessie Jacobsen, Alice Kors, Jeff LeBeau, James Morrison, Carl Weintraub, Bernie White and Jacqueline Wright. Musical direction is by Mitch Greenhill, with special contributions by Joe Romano and sound design by Theo Mondle.

New works will continue to be scheduled and announced as part of the series throughout the year.

Tickets to all Threshholds of Invention performances are $25. The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd, between Santa Monica and Olympic Blvds. in West Los Angeles. Parking is $5 in the on-site parking lot. For more information, visit OdysseyTheatre.com.

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