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KING LEAR Returns to LA MAMA for an

Official Off-Broadway Run in 2026

Following a successful world premiere at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas and a sold-out four-performance run in New York City summer of 2024, Compagnia de’ Colombari’s fresh, vital and urgent KING LEAR triumphantly returns to for its official Off-Broadway run at La MaMa ETC at the Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003) for 16 performances, January 23-February 8, 2026.

Tickets are $45 (general admission) and $30 (for students and seniors). $75 (support the artists ticket, general admission). 10 tickets to each performance are available for $10 each. Tickets are available via La MaMa’s website from November 25, 2025: www.lamama.org/king-lear/

Opening Night is Friday, January 23, at 7PM, with performances on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 7PM, Saturdays at 2PM and 7PM, and Sundays at 2PM. The play, explored in five “movements,” is adapted and directed by Karin Coonrod with long-time Colombari collaborators Grammy Award-winner Frank London (original music), Obie Award-winner Oana Botez (costumes), Krista Smith (lighting), and Ty Hunt Fitzgerald (sound), and a star-studded cast of ten actors who each play King Lear and the other roles interchangeably as they inhabit the love-tested world of the play.

CAST TO BE ANNOUNCED.

Compagnia de’ Colombari’s KING LEAR is a primal, physical, and potent “paper crown” Lear that strips the Shakespearean classic to its essence. Coonrod utilizes her signature “multiplicity” to shift and deepen audiences’ connection with the characters. Ten diverse actors, ranging in age and gender, embody King Lear at the beginning and conduct a radical takeover of the text and space. Their unity fractures as they tear off their paper crowns and assume other roles, competing for influence and diminishing the legion of Lears. Through a vigorous exploration of the characters’ egos, motivations, and power dynamics, the actors delve deeply into the internal and external journey of a stubborn, fractured soul who must lose everything to find himself. Transformation takes place in the apocalypse. Coonrod’s immersive production commands us to, as Kent demands of King Lear, “See better.”

2026 Performance Schedule:

Opening: Friday, January 23, 7PM

Saturday, January 24, 2PM+7PM

Sunday, January 25, 2PM

Wednesday, January 28, 7PM

Thursday, January 29, 7PM

Friday, January 30, 7 PM

Saturday, January 31, 2PM+7PM

Sunday, February 1, 2PM (Talkback to follow)

Wednesday, February 4, 7PM

Thursday, February 5, 7PM

Friday, February 6, 7PM

Saturday, February 7, 2PM+7PM

Sunday, February 8, 2PM

Everything That Rises Must Coverge
Screenings & Conversations

In September of 2024, Colombari performed Everything That Rises Must Converge in Rome, Italy. A film was made of that performance. Please join Karin Coonrod and cast members for two rare screenings followed by a conversation with the creative team.

Screening of ETRMC 2024 Film + Conversation
Thursday, Nov. 13, 6-7:30 PM
Magnolia Ballroom, Georgia College and State University,
231 S. Hancock Street, Milledgeville, GA 31061

Sponsored by the Flannery O'Connor Institute for Humanities at Georgia College and State University, with generous support from the Department of English, the Department of Theatre, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Flannery O'Connor Review, and the John E. Sallstrom Honors College.
The event is free and open to the public; donations are welcome.

Screening of ETRMC 2024 Film + Conversation
Monday, November 17th, 7:30pm
Nunemaker Auditorium in the Monroe Science Building
Loyola University New Orleans Campus
6363 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70118

Sponsored by Robert "Bentley" Anderson, holder of the Rev. Stephen J. Duffy chair in Catholic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Loyola, co-sponsored by the Black Studies Program, the Canizaro Center for Catholic Studies, and the Department of Religious Studies. The event is free and open to the public; students and faculty are encouraged to attend.

Whitman on Walls! (WoW!)

Whitman on Walls! (WoW!) is a community-galvanizing hybrid event that brings living poets and Colombari performers on film together to explore Walt Whitman's iconic words and uncover what democracy and identity mean to artists and poets today. It's a movie screening meets poetry slam!

In response to the host of performance cancellations in 2020, Compagnia de' Colombari turned Karin Coonrod’s original production of MORE OR LESS I AM into short films. Working with Whitman's iconic poem, "Song of Myself," Colombari created seven short films with actors and musicians around the globe, bringing Whitman’s words to life in startling and beautiful new ways intermixed with live responses from local poets and performers. Colombari plans to tour WoW! in all 50 states of the USA to celebrate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Whitman on Walls (WoW!) Tour Dates 2025:

November 8, 2025, 6-8PM: Winter Park, FL at Rollins College Mills Lawn & Olin Library. More info HERE.

September 20, 2025, 2-4PM: Staten Island, NYC, at Alice Austen House (2 Hylan Blvd). More info HERE.

June 23, 2025, 5-7PM: New Haven, CT, at the Beinecke Library (121 Wall Street). More info HERE.

May 3, 2025, 4-6PM: Williamstown, MA, at The Clark Art Institute (225 South Street). More info HERE.

To better understand WoW! and its effect on poets and communities, please read this marvelous feature by Kate Abbott, "Contemporary Poets Share Songs of Polyphonic Selves," first published in the Berkshire Eagle, May 3, 2025, now on BTW Berkshires covering Colombari's collaboration with Tupelo Press at The Clark.

Whitman on Walls! (WoW!) design created by Kyle Morrissey of White Bicycle

Brooklyn Audiences Experience

REVELATION

On June 4, celebrating Flannery O’Connor’s centennial birthday,
Compagnia de' Colombari presented a work-in-process of REVELATION, Karin Coonrod's theatrical adaptation of one of O’ Connor’s classic short stories. The presentation at St. Paul's Church featured Trezana Beverly, KenYatta Rogers, Stacey Sherrell, Carlton Terrence Taylor, Whitney Andrews, Jo Mei, Ahmad Kamal, and Julian Elijah Martinez.

Continuing Colombari's theatrical adaptations of O'Connor's works, this potent and timely production is in development for a premiere and touring beginning Summer 2026.

Immediately following the Brooklyn work-in-process presentation of REVELATION, actor KenYatta Rogers and director/adaptor, Karin Coonrod, flew to London to attend Flannery Abroad: A Conference in Celebration of Flannery O'Connor's Centenary. Held at Fordham University London from June 5 to 7, the conference featured a global "who's who" of O'Connor scholars and aficionados. Attendees applauded thunderously after being treated to a private video screening of scenes from the Brooklyn work-in-progress.

For more information about Flannery Abroad: A Conference in Celebration of Flannery O'Connor's Centenary and to see a list of the speakers and events, click HERE.

REVELATION photography by Shin Kurokawa. Graphics by Zack Stanik.

Whitman on Walls! Anthology Volume 2

Book Launch

We are thrilled to announce Volume 2 of the WoW! Anthology published in collaboration with The MFA Program in Creative Writing, The City College of NY, CUNY, and the Henry LUCE Foundation.

BOOK LAUNCH EVENT:

Thursday, April 3 | 5-7PM
Shepard 95 | Music Auditorium
The City College of NY
160 Convent Avenue
NY, New York 10031

The evening showcased screenings of select WoW! films, talks from the contributors, and readings from featured poets. Books are now available for purchase and are complimentary to the featured poets. This event launched the next season of Whitman on Walls! for 2025, as the community project tours NYC and the USA.

Whitman on Walls! Anthology Volume 2 cover design by Zach Stanik and Lauren Gatta

The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies,
in collaboration with Compagnia de’ Colombari, presents

Flannery O’Connor @ 100 Takes the Stage:

A Film, Conversation, & Celebration

To celebrate Flannery O'Connor's 100th birthday, a screening of the play Everything That Rises Must Converge, filmed in Rome by Mikołaj Cempla, HumanStories Studio, took place on March 25 at the Duane Library | Tognino Hall at Fordham University | Rose Hill Campus. It was followed by a panel discussion featuring Karin Coonrod, Mark L. Chapman, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, KenYatta Rogers, and Carlton Terrence Taylor.