Overtone Industries ICELAND at the REDCAT New Original Works Festival

Overtone Industries presents the first half hour of ICELAND, an upcoming musical theatre work by Overtones’ artistic director/composer/actress O-Lan Jones and singer/songwriter Emmet Tinley, at REDCAT’s New Original Works Festival July 24-26, 2014.  ICELAND tells the story of Vaya (Cesili Williams – The Color Purple the Musical), a woman who plans an escape from her unfulfilling life by flying to northern Iceland, only to have her plane malfunction on the way. She escapes in a parachute, landing in a fanciful world full of “sea dragons, mermaids, monsters, fragments of life, and unfinished things.” Mundur (David O), the airline clerk who sent Vaya on her way, sets out to rescue her before the memories of her real life disappear. Featuring a twenty-person cast, including two soloists, a choir and chamber orchestra, ICELAND is “a modern love story, set in a mythical and timeless world, where elemental forces and ancient creatures challenge the hero and heroine on an archetypal journey.” The finished work is expected to premiere in 2016.This half hour preview of the multidisciplinary work will close each night of Program One of the NOW Festival, which includes the dance productions Saana/The Foreigner by Wilfried Souly and Still from Rosanna Gamson/Worldwide.

Overtone Industries- Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands

After seven years in development, non-profit organization Overtone Industries is set to launch their site-specific theatricale, Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands, with two weeks of performances in Culver City opening Thursday, July 8, 2010. There will also be preview performances the week before the opening. The contemporary opera integrates art installation, dance, voice, live and recorded music, projected video, costuming, community participation, and theater.

Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands takes the audience on a journey with working class Tom and aristocratic Sue, who have lost their identities. The couple reclaims their story by means of a device that allows them to inhabit the “lands” that hold the pivotal experiences of their lives embodied in songs, dances, pledges of allegiance, and rituals indigenous to those turning points.

Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands was conceptualized by Director O-Lan Jones in an extensive collaboration that involves twenty one librettists, eleven composers, Costume and Scenic Designer Snezana Petrovic, Musical Director David O, and many others.

The performances will run from Thursday, July 8 to Sunday, July 18, 2010 with five weekly performances (Thursdays through Sundays, 8:00 pm nightly with 2:00 pm matinees on Sundays). Additional preview performances will run from Thursday, July 1 to Sunday, July 4, 2010

http://www.overtoneindustries.org/

LA Times Opera Review- Opera review: ‘Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands’ in a vacant car dealership | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times

LA Times Photo Gallery-  ‘Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands’ – latimes.com

LA Weekly Article- Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands – Overtone Industries – Los Angeles – Events