ODC Theater: Ghost Quartet by Dave Malloy

Ghost Quartet – music, lyrics, and text by Dave Malloy
directed by William Thomas Hodgson

Dave Malloy’s quirky and wondrous ghost story musical is as life-affirming as it is astounding. The piece is author-described as “a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey” in which “a camera breaks and four friends drink in four interwoven narratives spanning seven centuries.”

Audiences won’t want to miss this stunning musical from the creator whose work has recently delighted Bay Area audiences at Berkeley Rep (Octet) and Shotgun Players (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), with Ghost Quartet what many consider to be his most enchanting work.

The cast includes award-winning artist Rinde Eckert (piano, organ, slide guitar, percussion, vocals), an inaugural Doris Duke Artist (2012), recipient of an Alpert Award (2009), Guggenheim Fellowship (2007), and a Marc Blitzstein Award (2005), and a 2007 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Eckert is joined by Ami Nashimoto (cello, ukulele, erhu, percussion, vocals), Veronica Renner (accordion, autoharp, percussion, vocals), Monica Rose Slater (glockenspiel, accordion, harp, percussion, vocals), and Michael Perez (percussion, vocals).

“Halloween is the perfect time for a ghost story,” said Director and OTP Co-Artistic Director William Thomas Hodgson, “and the show enraptures you. In the stories that overlap, all these iterations of ghosts relate to each other. It’s a meditation on many different types of ghosts, like the ghost of regret, a past lover, a mistake, a thing that haunts you—or a literal ghost, an apparition. It’s also about love, betrayal, and keeping memories alive—and all of that is encapsulated in a ghost story.”

Ghost Quartet marks the exciting first co-production between Oakland Theater Project and New Performance Traditions!

Created by the Paul Dresher Ensemble, New Performance Traditions is a dynamic hub for nurturing multidisciplinary arts projects from conception to production, performance, and recording. We are dedicated to fostering daring and innovative performing artworks while providing unwavering support to the visionary artists who create them. We support and incubate the next generation of creative performing artists by providing affordable access to rehearsal and production spaces, professional equipment, video recording and live-streaming technologies, and performance opportunities and by offering multi-week residencies, production stipends, technical mentorship, and fiscal sponsorship to emerging and mid-career artists.

Oakland Theater Project’s mission is to create exquisite theatrical experiences to inspire compassion and forge bonds across socio-economic and racial barriers. Oakland Theater Project was founded in 2012 by Michael Socrates Moran, William Hodgson, and Colin Mandlin in Oakland, CA, and produces year-round professional theater for Oakland and the Bay Area. Rooted in Oakland, OTP’s work explores how theater can act as a vehicle to reveal and invigorate the latent interconnectedness in society.