Circus Theatricals Takes Up Residency
at The Odyssey Theatre

“I believe that this move is an extremely positive and creative move forward,” says Circus Theatricals Artistic Director Jack Stehlin. “I have immense respect for Ron Sossi, and his entire organization. This year, the Odyssey is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary and they’re still going strong. We feel great about setting up camp and joining forces.”

Stehlin and Sossi met when Stehlin played Charlie Fox in the nine month run of the acclaimed Los Angeles premiere of David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow” in ‘97.

Circus Theatricals will continue its commitment to produce exciting classic and world premiere plays, performed in their unique style. The first play in their new location, (a Circus Theatricals/Odyssey Theatre Ensemble co-production) will be Moliere’s classic farce “Scapin,” which will preview at the end of July, followed by workshop productions of new plays, classics, one acts, their “Women’sWork” play reading series, and on the mainstage a world premiere play by Shem Bitterman (whose world premiere play, “The Job” recently closed after running for six successful months at Circus Theatrical’s present location.)

The idea for the move began casually during a conversation Sossi and Stehlin had after celebrating their Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle awards in March (The long running hit “The Job,” produced by Circus Theatricals won the Ted Schmitt Award for Outstanding World premiere of a new play.”) During the conversation, Stehlin mentioned to Sossi that Circus Theatricals had out-grown their 42-seat theatre, and were looking for a larger space which offered more flexibility to create and perform.

The casual conversation turned into several weeks of serious brain-storming and negotiating, and the deal was struck for Circus Theatricals to leave the Hudson and become part of one of America’s strongholds for the theatre art.

“Our entire company is looking forward to the move across town,” says Jack Stehlin. “We have a very talented group of thirty actors, directors, writers, and designers who every day continue to dedicate themselves to the craft and art of theatre.”

Circus Theatricals (formerly The Hudson Guild) was founded in 1995 by Jack Stehlin and Jeannine Welles (who met in front of the theatre in 1995, and married in 1997). In just four short years, the acting troupe has produced seven mainstage productions, (many of which have won critical success and numerous awards), four workshop productions of classic plays, seven one act play festivals, and numerous workshops of new plays. The Acting Troupe at Circus Theatricals meets regularly to work in an on-going acting workshop, (led by Stehlin) to develop a common language and perfect their skills as theatre artists.

For more information, please contact Jeannine Welles at (310) 442-0816.