As a collaborative art and performance group, many different people have worked with us throughout our history. Please go to the specific project pages to learn more about the people involved in each project. Our core creative team consists of six people who have worked on every project. The are:

Matthew Purdon (co-founder, director, performer) is an interdisciplinary artist, performer and teacher currently employed as a lecturer in the art department at CSU East Bay. Mr. Purdon uses improvisation and ritual performance techniques to explore the boundary between performer and audience, fantasy and reality, the individual and society.   In 2001, he founded the collaborative performance group Odyssey works with Abe Burickson.   Together they have created five large-scale, site-specific participatory theatre pieces.    Mr. Purdon has also worked professionally as a director for Victory Gardens Theatre, American Stage Festival and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.   As an actor, Mr. Purdon has performed throughout the Bay Area on the stages of Marin Shakespeare, Bay Area Theatre Sports, Ross Valley Players, Masquers Playhouse and 8th Street Studios.   While in Chicago, Matthew studied improvisation at ImprovOlympic, where he co-created Chicago's first improvised interactive sitcom for the Web.   As a visual artist, Matthew's most recent solo exhibit was organized by Pro Arts and featured 13 paintings at Latham Square in Oakland.   In 2002, his one-person show Elemental was exhibited at the June Steingart Gallery at Laney College.   He has exhibited in Bay Area group shows and as part of East Bay Open Studios.   Mr. Purdon is attending JFK University's Dept. of Arts and Consciousness part-time and will complete his MFA degree in Interdisciplinary Art & Performance in the fall of 2005. Matthew received his undergraduate degree at Northwestern University where he studied theatre and creative writing.

Abraham Burickson (co-founder, writer, performer) is an accomplished poet whose most recent work has been published in Gumball Poetry, Hubbub, and Epicenter Magazine. Trained as an architect at Cornell University, his interest in spatial design evolved into an exploration of installation art.   His initial collaborations with Mr. Purdon were immersive and interactive installations, such as the "Co-Lab Network" and the "Eavesdropping Confession Booth".   These collaborations stimulated the dialogue that developed into the Odyssey Works performances. This summer, Mr. Burickson will be a writer in residence at the acclaimed Millay Colony in New York State.

Phil Kohlmetz (arts administrator, photographer, musician) has spent his entire professional career working to strengthen nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.   Before accepting his current position as Executive Director of the Western Railway Museum in Solano County, he was the Development Director at the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival where he raised $900,000 (or 60%) of the organization's operating budget annually, and from 1995 - 1999 he was Managing Director of Roadworks Productions in Chicago, an ensemble based theater company dedicated to fostering the next generation of theater patrons.   Artistic pursuits include music (percussion and wind instruments) and photography.   Mr. Kohlmetz has degrees from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Psychology and Music.

Shoshana Green (choreographer, performer) is working toward creating interdisciplinary dance/performance art that focuses on the presence in movement founded upon intense physicality, inquiry and emotional honesty.   She has been dancing for over 10 years, studying at University of Oregon and San Francisco State University.   Techniques that have contributed to her overall style include West African Guinea, release modern, contact improvisation and classical ballet.   Ms. Green has curated and produced art-gallery events such as "Co-lab," bringing together artists from a variety of disciplines and has choreographed works shown at Cell Space and San Francisco State University. She has danced and performed installation/dance works at ODC theatre.   She has participated as a choreographer and dancer in all five of Odyssey Works previous performances.

Bill Streett M.A. (composer, performer) has commercially released three recordings of his original compositions: CounterDance , Ozmosis , and Lure .   In addition, he has also been published in several online and print publications and journals.   He has collaoborated previously with Mr. Purdon as composer for several short videos and on the previous Odyssey Works productions. Mr. Streett's primary research interest lies in integrating transpersonal psychology, cultural studies, and music.   He recently co-edited the anthology The Astrology of Film: The Interface of Movies, Myth, and Archetype. He holds advanced degrees in philosophy and religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies and counseling psychology from John F. Kennedy University.   Mr. Streett has also participated as a performer in our previous productions.

Amy Petrolati (graphic designer, performer) received a degree in Media Studies/Photojournalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at a time when the field was just starting to go digital.   It was the study of the digital darkroom and an immersion in computer graphics and manipulation that sent her headlong into a career as a graphic designer.   She primarily works as Studio Designer for the boutique Marin advertising agency Duncan Channon where she has filled the role of designer and print producer.   Additional artistic ventures include photography and book/paper/fiber arts.   Ms. Petrolati has lent her graphic design support to and participated theatrically in three of Odyssey Works' previous endeavors.