Getty Villa Presents "The ODDyssey" Co-produced with the Troubadour Theater Company

The Getty Villa presents a virtual theater presentation, The ODDyssey, every Sunday at 3:00 PM PDT on the Getty Museum YouTube channel through August 16. Co-produced by the Getty Museum and the Troubadour Theater Company, The ODDyssey recounts Homer's 24 books in five episodes of about 15-20 minutes each, in a whimsical retelling of Odysseus's adventure for audiences of all ages.

"The ODDyssey is a family-friendly, seat-of-our pants, stay-at-home ordered-up mix of wacky and whimsical storytelling by a cast of kooky, colorful characters," says Matt Walker, artistic director of the Troubadour Theater Company. "Learn 12,000 lines in only five episodes. Our ODDyssey is the Rosetta Stone of epic poems."

A skewering of Homer's The Odyssey, the epic poem chronicling a 20-year journey is transformed into webisodes featuring wild costumes, music, masks, and dozens of characters. Held captive by Calypso (a magical nymph) after a harrowing encounter with a giant Cyclops, Oddy (Odysseus) is finally allowed to leave Calypso's island-only to be confronted by witches, sirens, angry gods, and multi-snake-headed creatures on his quest to return home to his beloved family.

Performing from their respective dwellings against the backdrop of the recent stay-at-home orders, the Troubies are stepping up to the quarantine challenge and using what is at their immediate disposal to tell the story. Inspired by Zoom's low-resolution quality, The ODDyssey is retro-styled with a variety of music including some sitcom song remakes.

Each episode will premiere on Sundays at 3:00 pm PDT, where audiences will get to chat live with the Troubies via YouTube Premiere. After the final episode, audiences will be invited to a Zoom party with the cast. All episodes will be available to view any time on the Getty's YouTube channel.

Over the past 11 years, the Troubies have collaborated with Getty several times. Most recently they presented a 15-minute live comedy performance of The Odyssey during the Roman Holidays summer weekends in 2017, when the Villa unveiled its new galleries. Other performances include the 2016 outdoor theater performance Haunted House Party, a hilarious adaptation blending music, comedy, and circus-style performance based on the Roman comedy Mostellaria by Plautus; and three the­ater lab comedies: Oedipus: The King, Mama! in 2009, a musical parody that mashes up the Greek tragedy with the music of Elvis Presley; For the Birds in 2011, based on Aristophanes's feathery utopian comedy; and Abbamemnon in 2014, a physical and musical romp, set to the music of the Swedish band ABBA, featuring one of the most famous dysfunctional ancient Greek families.

About The Troubadour Theater Company

Troubadour Theater Company is a free-wheeling, no-holds-barred, Commedia Del Arte-flavored, slapstick-driven, Los Angeles-based ensemble of actors, musicians, and comedians that has been performing for audiences throughout Southern California and beyond since 1995. Their fast-paced, laugh-filled, loose adaptations (some of the lines are still there) of classic plays, literature and film, as well as their original productions and hilarious sketch material, make this company a unique and exciting experience for theater-goers of any age.

For more information on the Troubies, visit http://www.troubie.com

IG and twitter: @thetroubies

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/troubadourtheatercompany

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/troubadourtheater

Getty is a leading global arts organization committed to the exhibition, conservation, and understanding of the world's artistic and cultural heritage. Working collaboratively with partners around the globe, the Getty Foundation, Getty Conservation Institute, Getty Museum and Getty Research Institute are all dedicated to the greater understanding of the relationships between the world's many cultures. The Los Angeles-based J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs share art, knowledge, and resources online at Getty.edu and welcome the public for free at the Getty Center and the Getty Villa.

The J. Paul Getty Museum collects Greek and Roman antiquities, European paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculpture and decorative arts to 1900, as well as photographs from around the world to the present day. The Museum's mission is to display and interpret its collections, and present important loan exhibitions and publications for the enjoyment and education of visitors locally and internationally. This is supported by an active program of research, conservation, and public programs that seek to deepen our knowledge of and connection to works of art.