LOS ANGELES, CA -- Cirque du Soleil clown Daniel Passer and award-winning director Beth F. Milles bring a clown ode to loss and remembrance to the Odyssey Theatre stage, exploring the unexpected humor and discoveries to be found in the loss of memory, and deeply honoring the experience of people whose memories are fading. The West Coast premiere of Heading Into Night: A clown play about... [forgetting] will run October 5 through November 17 at the Odyssey’s venue in West L.A., with two preview performances on Thursday, Oct. 3 and Friday, Oct. 4.

Longtime collaborators, Milles and Passer devised and developed this interactive piece as an investigation into the work being done at kinder, gentler care dementia villages based on Hogeweyk, an eldercare facility in the Netherlands where people facing cognitive loss are nurtured in a community. Preparing for the work, the two delved into cognitive science research about repetition, connecting the mental looping characteristic of cognitive loss with clowning and commedia dell’arte theater.

“Clowning is often built on repetition, so this seemed a very organic connection,” says Milles. “There is nothing less certain than not knowing. And there is a mystical, tenuous fragility in the state of losing one’s place, as well as an audacious power in just ‘being.’ This work is focused on the joy of rediscovery. Daniel and I want to be adventurers, to explore ways to give to our community each time we create a work.”

Heading Into Night premiered at The Cherry Arts in Ithaca, New York, where Milles is a member of the acting and directing faculty at Cornell University. As a director and theater creator, she specializes in new and devised work investigating the comic impulse. Milles has directed on Broadway and at theaters around the country, including award-winning productions with the celebrated Actors Gang in Los Angeles. Last season, she directed Iva Brdar’s And if I don’t behave then what at Open Fist Theatre Company.

“Looking through the lens of a clown, and bringing a sense of joy and childlike innocence to the theme of memory, has been a rich landscape to explore,” says Passer, who has been a clown and comedy conceptor for Cirque du Soleil and Dragone Entertainment for over a decade; has taught commedia, clown and improvisation at Moscow Art Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Brown University, Harvard, Cornell; and is currently on faculty and associate director of performance at CalArts. “I love collaborating with Beth and dreaming up the impossible and striving to bring it to life.”

Joining Passer on stage at the Odyssey are actor Peter Mark and musician Redfield Clipper Mills.

The creative team includes costume designer Márion Talán de la Rosa; lighting designer Russell Champa; projection designer Gabrieal Griego; technical consultant Pierre Clavel; and graphics designer Luba Lukova. The stage manager is Bella Peters. Beth Hogan produces for Odyssey Theatre Ensemble.

Performances of Heading Into Night take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. from October 5 through November 17. There will be two additional weeknight performances, on Wednesday, Oct. 16 and Wednesday, Nov. 6, each at 8 p.m.: Two previews take place on Thursday, Oct. 4 and Friday, Oct. 5, both at 8 p.m. Post-performance discussions are scheduled on Wednesday, Oct. 16 and Friday, Nov. 1. The third Friday of every month is “Wine Night”: enjoy complimentary wine and snacks and mingle with the cast after the show.

Tickets to performances range from $20 to $40 on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Performances on Fridays are Pay-What-You-Can (reservations open online and at the door starting at 5:30 p.m.). The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025

Details for Calendar Listings:
‘Heading Into Night: A clown play about... [forgetting]’

WHAT:
Cirque du Soleil clown Daniel Passer and award-winning director Beth F. Milles bring a clown ode to loss and remembrance to the Odyssey stage, exploring the unexpected humor and discoveries to be found in the loss of memory, and deeply honoring the experience of people whose memories are fading. Co-devised by Passer and Milles, Heading Into Night: A clown play about... [forgetting] is inspired by research into the groundbreaking, dementia-based village Hogeweyk and other such productive and aspirationally supportive communities.

WHO:
• Devised by Beth F. Milles and Daniel Passer
• Directed by Beth F. Milles
• Performed by Daniel Passer
• Also featuring actor Peter Mark and musician Redfield Clipper Mills
• Produced by Beth Hogan
• Presented by the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Ron Sossi Artistic Director

WHEN:
Previews: Oct. 3 and Oct. 4
Performances: Oct. 5 – Nov. 17
• Wednesdays at 8 p.m.: Oct. 16* and Nov. 6 ONLY
• Thursday at 8 p.m.: Oct. 3 (preview) ONLY
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: Oct. 4 (preview), Oct. 11, Oct. 18**, Oct. 25; Nov. 1*, Nov. 8, Nov. 15**
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: Oct. 5 (opening), Oct. 12, Oct. 19, Oct. 26; Nov. 2, Nov.  9, Nov. 16
• Sundays at 2 p.m.: Oct. 6, Oct. 13, Oct. 20, Oct. 27; Nov. 3, Nov. 10, Nov. 17
*Post-performance discussions on Wednesday, Oct. 16 and Friday, Nov. 1
**Wine Night Fridays: Enjoy complimentary wine and snacks on the third Friday of every month.

WHERE:
Odyssey Theatre
2055 South Sepulveda Boulevard,
Los Angeles CA 90025

TICKET PRICES:
• Wednesday, Saturdays and Sundays: $20–$40 (plus $3 credit card fee if applicable)
• Fridays: Pay-What-You-Can  (reservations open online and at the door starting at 5:30 p.m.).

For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 477-2055 ext. 2 or go to OdysseyTheatre.com.

PHOTOS:
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