Working Group presents new take on the Odyssey

Working Group - Iowa City’s newest professional theatre company, Working Group, is proud to present Odysseus, Iowa, for three family friendly performances: Thursday June 10th through Saturday June 12th at 7pm. Tickets are Pay-What-You-Want and the show will be presented outdoors at the Schlapkohl Farm on the outskirts of Highway 1 in Iowa City. Please call (319) 594-9051 for information and ticket reservations. Odysseus, Iowa is written by Jennifer Fawcett and Sean Christopher Lewis and features Iowa City favorites, Martin Andrews (Riverside Theatre’s Mary's Wedding), John Watkins (Guys on Ice), Jennifer Fawcett (Goat Show) and filled out by newcomers: Brian Quijada, Luke Schares and Maggie Blake.

An all ages musical play Odysseus, Iowa follows Odie, a young farm boy from the plains of Iowa whose dear Penelope has been swept away in the treacherous floods. Joined by a traveling troubadour named John, Odie sets forth on an amazing adventure across the great state of Iowa to rescue his true love. Along the way he is met by disgruntled poetry professors, lay about college students, a few cannibalistic bunny rabbits and an oh-so-lonely Cyclops. Staying true to Homer’s original Odyssey the play updates the Greek myth to comically local proportions in a style that all ages can enjoy.

Working Group is an Iowa-based professional theatre company, co-founded by three University of Iowa Theatre Graduates: Sean Christopher Lewis (MFA Playwriting, 2007), Jennifer Fawcett (MFA Playwriting, 2008) and Martin Andrews (MFA Acting, 2009). Most recently, Working Group has produced Mary Hamilton’s Pool Play at private homes around Iowa City, I Will Make You Orphans and goat show at the Adirondack Theatre Festival (Glens Falls, NY) and is currently touring Lewis’ solo show, Killadelphia to theatres across the US. They will be in residence at Riverside Theatre for the 2010-2011 season.

Sean Lewis and Martin Andrews most recently collaborated on the hit play Mary’s Wedding at Riverside Theatre in April while Jennifer Fawcett has spent the year seeing plays of hers developed and produced at the Lark New Play Center and the 78th Street Lab in NYC as well as in her native Canada.