The Department of Theatre and Dance will present The Odyssey in Shadow, a large-scale cinematic shadow theater experience inspired by the ancient epic The Odyssey. The production will perform at the end of spring quarter 2026 in the Arena Theatre, Wright Hall.

Co-directed by longtime artistic associates and veteran collaborators Caryl Kientz and Lydia Greer from the renowned ShadowLight Productions and the interdisciplinary collective Facing West Shadows, this work merges myth and memory through an immersive visual language of light, shadow, and movement.

Blending traditional shadow theater techniques with live performance, filmmaking methods, experimental cinema, and layered projection, The Odyssey in Shadow reimagines Homer’s timeless tale through a contemporary lens—centering perspectives from the margins, reframing the hero’s journey, and illuminating the unseen.

From the bird-like Sirens to the sorceress Circe, from the Cyclops to the ghost-filled underworld, this shadow odyssey conjures the magical and monstrous realms of myth. Fantastical encounters and enchanted landscapes unfold in silhouette and motion, blending the awe of ancient storytelling with the urgency of modern mythmaking.

Kientz is a director, producer, and educator specializing in cinematic shadow theater. She is the Theatrical Director and co-founder of Facing West Shadows, an experimental shadow theater collective known for blending traditional shadow puppetry with animation, installation, and opera. For nearly two decades, she has worked with the internationally renowned ShadowLight Productions, where she now serves as Managing Director and Artistic Associate. Caryl has taught and directed shadow theater workshops and productions across the U.S. and internationally, with students ranging from K–12 to professional artists. Her collaborative work has been performed at venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harvard University, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival.

Greer is a widely exhibiting interdisciplinary visual artist, filmmaker/director, animator, and the artistic director of Facing West Shadows, a Lumia arts collective working with shadow casting and hybridizing art forms to create magical acts of rebellion as experimental art in the gold rush climate of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Expanding into film/animation, theater/opera, puppetry, and sculptural installation, Facing West Shadows creates surprising experiences for the audience by seamlessly combining old and new technologies and art forms. Lydia’s multi-sensory performances, films, artworks, and installations unify animation, shadow, puppetry, and sculpture, inviting audience engagement in narrative construction and play. Her work has been exhibited and performed at museums, theatres and galleries nationally and internationally with recent work presented at The Exploratorium in San Francisco, Marin Theatre Company, The Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose (ICASJI), The Strangloscope International Experimental Film Festival,  Brazil, The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, MeMeraki Artist Residency in Cyprus and invited by the NaFilM: National Film Museum based in Prague. She has been a special guest and performer at the renowned Summer Film School Festival in Uherske Hradiste, Czech Republic. She has been an artist and creative consultant with the award-winning professional cinematic shadow theatre company ShadowLight Productions for over a decade, performing cinematic shadow theatre and creating media inspired by modern mythmaking. She is currently an assistant professor of Animation and Fine Art at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, California. Lydia holds an MFA from UC Berkeley in New Genres/Mixed Media and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

The Department of Theatre and Dance is part of the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. For information about other department productions, visit theatredance.ucdavis.edu.