Love’s Labour’s Lost

Evren Odcikin (Director)
Evren is a Turkish-American director, writer, and arts leader based in New York City and San Francisco. Recent Directing credits include The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar)by Nia Akilah Robinson (Soho Rep, New York Times Critic’s Pick), Macbeth and Mona Mansour’s Unseen(Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Eric Reyes Loo’s Simple Mexican Pleasures(New Conservatory Theater Center), Christopher Oscar Peña’s Our Orange Sky(Profile Theatre), Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song(Marin Theatre), Sylvia Khoury’s Selling Kabul(Northern Stage), the world premiere of Amir Nizar Zuabi’s This is Who I Am(Woolly Mammoth, PlayCo, A.R.T., Guthrie, and OSF), two workshops of Adam Ashraf Elsayigh’s ALAA: A Family Trilogyat Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor and at Golden Thread, and two workshops of Lauren Gunderson’s Muse of Fireat Marin Shakes and Magic Theatre. Previously, he has helmed productions and workshops at New York Theatre Workshop, Geva Theatre Center, Berkeley Rep, South Coast Rep, the Lark, Kennedy Center, The Civilians, InterAct (Philadelphia), Cleveland Public Theatre, TheatreSquared, UCSB’s Launch Pad, Magic Theatre, Crowded Fire, TheatreFirst, New Conservatory Theater Center, Shotgun Players, and Playwrights Foundation with such writers as Melis Aker, Kevin Artigue, Guillermo Calderón, Christopher Chen, Jeesun Choi, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Gabriel Jason Dean, Yussef El Guindi, Lauren Gunderson, Prince Gomolvilas, Lauren Gunderson, Denmo Ibrahim, MJ Kaufman, Hannah Khalil, Jonas Hassen Khemiri, Mona Mansour, Novid Parsi, Baruch Porras Hernandez, Eric Reyes Loo, Nia Akilah Robinson, Betty Shamieh, Caridad Svich, and Lauren Yee, amongst many others. His productions have been Barrymore and Theatre Bay Area Awards recommended and nominated; appeared on “Best of the Year” lists in San Francisco Chronicle, WBUR, KQED, Bay Area Reporter, and SF Bay Times; and were named as a Critic’s Pick for New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and San Francisco Chronicle. In 2023, Evren served as the Interim Artistic Director at Oregon Shakespeare Festival where he had been the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Artistic Programming since 2019. At OSF, he led the programming of the 2024 Season, secured funding to “save” the 2023 Season, and helped guide the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the devastating Almeda Fire. He oversaw the producing of five repertory seasons — the 32 productions he’s shepherded at OSF include the world premiere of the company’s first holiday show, It’s Christmas, Carol!; world and West Coast premieres of new works by Kirsten Childs, Mona Mansour, Dominique Morisseau, Qui Nguyen, Karen Zacarias, Amir Nizar Zuabi, and reimagined classics by directors such as Shariffa Ali, Lili-Anne Brown, Shana Cooper, Nataki Garrett, Kent Gash, Henry Godinez, Tiffany Nichole Greene, Rosa Joshi, and Dawn Monique Williams, amongst many others. He annually led an artistic core of more than 100 artists, and 10 full-time staff members. Evren has received the TITAN Award from Theatre Bay Area, and was named an inaugural National Director’s Fellow for the O’Neill, NNPN, the Kennedy Center, and SDCF and received a “Theatre Worker You Should Know” feature in American Theatre Magazine. He has served on selection committees for Theatre Communications Group, National Endowment for the Arts, Zellerbach Foundation, NNPN Showcase of New Plays, Magic Theatre, Playwrights Foundation, Playwrights’ Center, and Middle East America Initiative. Evren is a graduate of Princeton University.