AIR DATE: 7/16/10, 2:30 – 3:00 pm

GUESTS:  Actress/Writer Olan Jones, Composer David O., and Actress Barbara Cole.

Prolific actress/writer/composer/producer O-lan Jones and award-winning composer David O. talk about their latest collaboration “Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands” an ambitious multi-disciplinary – theatrical opera, art exhibit and performance art that enlists 21 librettists, 11 composers, 20 performance and a 9-piece live orchestra.  Taking place in a 25,000 sq. ft. former car dealership in Culver City, the piece features choreography by Nina Winthrop, as well as unique instruments and “trains” that squire the audience through the theatrical landscape.  “Songs from Imaginary Lands” deals with identity, class structure, ritual and rites of passage in the lives of an “every couple.” As an actress, O-lan originated many theatrical roles and has worked with a plethora of renowned directors including Tim Burton, Jonathan Demme, Ivan Reitman, Oliver Stone, Paul Schraeder and Peter Weir. 

In the second half, actress/writer Barbara Cole talks career and motherhood and “SURVIVING CHRYSALIS,” an award-winning one-woman show, in which she portrays multiple characters, including a liberated, tribal drummer who refuses to live a fearful life; a judgmental sister-in-law who realizes life is not over when a spouse’s life is, as well as a woman whose dreams really do come true.   Part of a triple-bill, “Up Chick Creek,” directed by Amy Mayer, was originally performed as part of the LA Women Theatre Festival and at the Santa Monica Playhouse. “Surviving Chrysalis” “reveals the struggles a mother faces in trying to reconcile the reality of family life and aging with career aspirations.”

Copies of this show can be ordered through the Pacifica Radio Archives at www.pacificaradioarchives.org