Dyan McBride and David Beatty in "Lien on Me."

Last year I took an acting class with an actor-filmmaker named David Beatty. Now he’s got a new gig, a web series called “Lien on Me.” If you’ve enjoyed “Weeds” or “Six Feet Under,” you might want to check it out. It’s a zany comedy that compares favorably, with a decided plus in these distracting times: each episode or webisode is only 5 to 6 minutes long. The first two shows are highly amusing; the third raises the stakes to seriously funny.

 Beatty stars as a real estate agent named Johnny Columbus who’s having trouble paying the mortgage. Heather Williams is his patient wife, Theona; OC stage actress Melita Ann Sagar is Johnny’s no-nonsense boss, Miss Jenkins, and Ammar Ramzi is her nitwit nephew, Blake, who’s obsessed with Theona. The series—filmed in Huntington Beach—is co-written by Beatty and director Nino Mancuso, and co-produced by Ramzi, Mancuso and Beatty.

People talk a lot about “going green” these days, but some do more than talk. For example, the scores of community volunteers who spent weeks creating the sets and costumes (out of mostly recycled and reclaimed materials), for a site-specific multimedia opera titled “Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands.” The show is slated to perform in Culver City July 8-18, in a vacant 25,000-square foot car dealership temporarily transformed into a performance space.

Seven years in development, the large-scale, interdisciplinary production integrates art installation, dance, live and recorded music, video, and theater. The project was developed and cultivated by director O-Lan Jones in collaboration with 21 librettists, 11 composers, 20 performers, and a 9-piece orchestra. “"The extensive collaboration on the project is a metaphor for the existential point of the opera,” says Jones. “In other words, we all make the world that we live in together."

More from Jordan:

Pageant of the Masters revels in Laguna; ‘Lion in Winter’ roars in Orange
Kino’s American Film Theatre set preserves great plays on DVD
Show biz bookshelf: The good, the bad and the ugly side of movies
Anaheim’s Muzeo sings the blues; jazz icons come alive on DVD

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