SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 11

A Co-production with New Performance Traditions

Performs at Z Space in San Francisco

KING LEAR

by William Shakespeare
directed by Michael Socrates Moran
music composed by Paul Dresher

Oakland Theater Project and New Performance Traditions are thrilled to present their most ambitious co-production to date: a bold, music-infused production of William Shakespeare’s epic tragedy King Lear, featuring a cast of 30; and music composed by Paul Dresher and performed live by the Dresher|Davel Invented Instrument Duo.

Directed by OTP Executive Artistic Director Michael Socrates Moran, the production features the “irrepressible” (SF Chronicle) J Jha (Angels in America, Mahābhārata) as Lear; and renowned performer, singer, and writer Rinde Eckert (Ghost Quartet) as The Fool.

In the twilight of his rule, a king sets out to divide the kingdom among his three daughters. But in mistaking flattery for love, Lear’s foolish choices usher in a new reign of domination, cruelty and collapse.

As a self-styled “bastard” sets out to upend the ruling order, Lear must confront his own part in the kingdom’s downfall.

Can he transform in time to reclaim what is sacred before the clown show becomes the new order?

PERFORMANCES

SEPTEMBER 25 – OCTOBER 11

Previews
Friday, September 25 @ 7pm
Saturday, September 26 @ 7pm

Opening
Sunday, September 27 @ 7pm

Performances
Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun through October 11

Run Time: 3 hours (including 2 intermissions)

Tickets are purchased through the Z Space Box Office. You will be redirected to their website.

Get Tickets

*PRIORITY TICKET
$100

SELECT TICKET
$70

STANDARD TICKET
$40 - Gen Admission
$20 - Pay-what-you-can 20
$10 - Pay-what-you-can 10

*Patrons with existing Priority Tickets from OTP before the Z Space announcement will have their tickets upgraded for free
**Ticketing fee displayed at the ticket website.

Questions about tickets? Contact the Z Space box office at boxoffice@zspace.org

Questions about the production? Contact the Z Space box office at boxoffice@oakalndtheaterproject.org

IN THE MEDIA

10 of the Best Plays and Musicals to See This Fall in the Bay Area

“Oakland Theater Project continues their daring season of rethinking classics and putting visceral new razors on stories of brutality. Lear is the model for many of theater’s greatest characters, and an embodiment of self-inflected wounds.”

— David John Chavéz, KQED

From ‘Oh, Mary!’ to ‘King Lear’: Nine Bay Area shows to see this fall

“When Oakland Theater Project Artistic Director Michael Socrates Moran takes on Shakespeare, we get glorious inventions like last year’s “Hamlet”… Now the wild visionary takes on Shakespeare’s tragedy of inheritance. J Jha, a fearless actor whose every performance seems to straddle the line between ecstasy and madness, plays the misguided king”
— Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle