Lauren Bon is an environmental artist from Los Angeles, CA. Her practice, Metabolic Studio, explores self-sustaining and self-diversifying systems of exchange that feed emergent properties that regenerate the life web. Some of her works include: Not A Cornfield, which transformed and revived an industrial brownfield in downtown Los Angeles into a thirty-two-acre cornfield for one agricultural cycle; 100 Mules Walking the Los Angeles Aqueduct, a 240-mile performative action that aimed to reconnect the city of Los Angeles with the source of its water for the centenary of the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Her studio’s current work, Bending the River, aims to utilize Los Angeles’ first private water right to deliver 106-acre feet of water annually from the LA River to over 50 acres of land in the historic core of downtown LA. This model can be replicated to regenerate the 52-mile LA River, reconnect it to its floodplain and form a citizens’ utility.

O-Lan Jones is an award-winning composer, sound designer, writer, and actress. The press has referred to her as an “uncategorizable legend.” She has created original sound designs and scores for over fifty productions in San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and New York, in collaboration with Padua Hills Playwrights, LA Women’s Shakespeare Company, the Taper Too, and Bay Area Shakespeare Festival. As an actress, she has originated roles in many plays including those of Sam Shepard, Julie Hebert, and Beth Henley. Her screen credits include iconic works like Natural Born Killers, The Truman Show, Seinfeld, The X-Files, Shameless, Edward Scissorhands and two additional Tim Burton films. Her work has been performed in traditional and non-traditional settings such as La Mama, the Kurt Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and The Ford. Since 2015 Miz Jones has worked with Metabolic Studio as a composer as well as conductor of the Metabolic Choir and The Interdependence Community Choir. In 2025, she was commissioned by Long Beach Opera to create a video for their Pauline Oliveras opera and will perform in their production on the Queen Mary this weekend, April 12 and 13.

Richard Montoya is a founding member of Culture Clash, Playwright, Indie Filmmaker and Sundance Lab Alumni. He is a dedicated father and storyteller with edgy new works for stage and screen in the cosmic hopper. He is obsessed with LA Stories and his children Mountain, age 14 and Luna (SEWA MEECHA/Moon FLower), age 6. Montoya has deep roots in The San Joaquin Valley. His parents Jose & Mary Ellen, both US-born farmworkers, met and wed in Fowler, CA. Those fields produced generations of artists and writers that have taken their place among American Letters. A co-founder of the legendary performance trio Culture Clash, Montoya is deeply committed to the intersection of social justice and art. His body of collective and solo works relentlessly explore politics, underrepresented narratives, and his Chicana/o roots, experiences, dreams, and struggles. 

David O is a music-theatre artist specializing in new music for the stage and concert hall. On Broadway, David was the Musical Director for Billy Crystal’s “Mr. Saturday Night”.  In the early days of the pandemic, David co-created the popular and star-studded YouTube video “You Can’t Stop the Beat: a Celebration for the Actor’s Fund”. As a Los Angeles-based Musical Director, David has conducted the world premieres of 13 and Soft Power, as well as numerous productions at the Mark Taper Forum, Pasadena Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, La Mirada Theater, The Blank Theater, and South Coast Repertory.  David’s original compositions include the choral compositions “A Map of Los Angeles” and “One With the Wind”, music for the film “Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony”, and the original music-theatre pieces “Helen” and “Hippolytos” (Getty Villa), “The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip”, (Kirk Douglas Theater) and “Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands” (Overtone Industries).  David Is known to a generation of young Angelenos as “The Professor” for his work co-creating and co-hosting the LA Philharmonic’s “Summersounds at the Hollywood Bowl - Voyage of the Global Harmony”.

Livia Reiner grew up working with O-Lan Jones and Overtone Industries including Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands in 2010. Recently she assistant directed the world premiere of ICELAND at La Mama’s Ellen Stewart Theater. She has also been an assistant director to MacArthur Fellow Annie Dorsen for workshops of Prometheus Firebringer, and her voice was featured in its off-broadway run at Theater for a New Audience. She has composed and performed original music in The Measures Taken (Exponential Festival 2022), Atalanta (Chicago International Puppet Festival 2019), and No Place Like (Pico House). She also writes original songs, and her band M0NOGAMY recently released its debut EP. She’s a graduate of the University of Chicago.

Wells Leng is a performer/composer/improviser based in Los Angeles. Having graduated from USC with a BM in Composition and a BA in Piano Performance and CalArts with an MFA in the Performer-Composer program, they have studied composition with Donald Crockett, Brian Head, Andrew Norman, Frank Ticheli, Andrew McIntosh, and Nicholas Deyoe; piano with Antoinette Perry and Vicki Ray; cello with Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick. As both a performer and composer, Wells has collaborated with many other artists all over the world. An active member of the LA taiko community, they have worked closely with prominent artists such as San Jose Taiko, Kris Bergstrom, Isaku Kageyama, Shoji Kameda, as well as other musicians specializing in Japanese music; Kozue Matsumoto and Rachel Rudich. Wells is part of House on Fire Trio, stickytack, and Quartet Friends, and has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, REDCAT Theater, Aratani Theatre, among others. Aside from playing taiko, cello, and piano, Wells is also an amateur player of several other instruments. Wells is currently the associate music director and collaborative keyboardist at Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church.

Alejandro Melendez is a first-generation Latiné designer working in theatre, opera, and live events. Recent credits include a disability-affirmative production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for Phamaly Theatre Company at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and the West Coast premiere of Dutch Masters at the Odyssey Theatre.

He is a 2024 USITT Emerging Creative, a 2023 ETC Fred Foster Mentee, and was selected to take part in the 2023 Latinx Theatre Commons Colaboratorio. Alejandro holds an MFA in Experience Design & Production from CalArts and a BA in Theatre from MSU Denver.

Mia is an LA-based Stage Manager with small farm-town roots who was originally introduced to live entertainment by way of a karaoke microphone and an aunt who needed a duet partner. In her work as a Stage Manager for the past 7 years, she has never worked on a project quite like this!  When she's not writing reports or scheduling rehearsals, you can find her reading a book with a coffee in hand - though you can find her with a coffee in most rehearsals, too! She has a background in vocal and instrumental music in multiple genres and has a deep love for music and is so grateful that this project has given her a chance to be back in a room with a choir. Special thanks to O-Lan, Livia, Elliot, and Michelle for all their hard work, trust, and guidance!

June Carryl is a playwright and actor raised in Denver and who attended Brown University where she studied Political Science and English Literature. Her plays include The Wronged Party (2022 IAMA Theatre's Shonda Rhimes Unsung Voixes Commission) and The Girl Who Made the Milky Way (Imagine Theatre and Colony Theatre) She is a proud alum of Overtone Industries' Original Vision series.

Angelica Rowell (she/her) is a singer, actress, writer, and arts educator based in Los Angeles, California. She is adamant about the power art has to change perspectives, and strives to create works that open doors for marginalized peoples while educating others in hopes of creating a more understanding and just world.

Elliot Menard is an opera-maker—a vocal performer, composer, and producer. Working at the nexus of opera-theater, new music, and experimental performance, she is dedicated to exploring opera’s many forms. elliotmenard.com / @elliotmenard

Kion Heidari is an LA-based vocal artist, composer/musician, and actor. Ensembles he sings with include HEX, Tonality, and the LA Master Chorale. He performs in new opera and musical theatre productions and specializes in contemporary, choral, folk, and classical styles. Recent credits include At War With Ourselves (2025, as a soloist with Kronos Quartet) and Randy Newman’s FAUST at the Soraya (2024, as a featured soloist). He has also performed voiceover for video games, podcasts, and documentaries.

Michael McShane is a veteran film and television actor, improvisor, and has performed on stages from London to Broadway. Mike got his start with FAULTLINE—a groundbreaking improv troupe based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His West Coast stage credits include—Henry IV Part 1, Hamlet, King John, Alls Well That Ends Well, The Winter’s Tale (California Shakespeare Festival), Waiting For Godot, You, Nero (Berkeley Repertory Theater) A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to The Forum, Golden Boy, The Birds (American Conservatory Theater) A Bright Room Called Day, The Stick Wife (Eureka Theater), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Little Foxes, Cousin Bette, The Seagull, Tonight At 8:30 (The Antaeus Theater Company) West End, London: Assassins, Little Shop of Horrors, La Cage aux Folles (Menier Chocolate Factory). Broadway: La Cage Aux Folles, Taller Than A Dwarf. Film: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Richie Rich, Tom & Huck, Office Space, Big Trouble.

John Fleck is an Actor and Performance Artist, aka one of the NEA-4 defunded by the National Endowment of the Arts because of their controversial work and who’s case went to the Supreme Court and won but then lost when the Clinton administration appealed. Go figure. Fleck works extensively in theater, TV and film which supports his not necessarily for profit performance art.  Look out for his latest self-scripted opus, There are Fairies at the Bottom of our Garden coming to the Skylight Theater this coming fall. If you’re an AMC+ subscriber, he has a lead role in a new film DEAD MAIL debuting April 18.

Liz Eldridge is an actor, writer & musician from LA. Theatre: Titania, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theatricum Botanicum), Louise, Holiday Inn (Musical Theatre West), Chorus 1, The Unraveling, Mom, The Dry Years (Ghost Road), Dinah, Katy Cruel (Overtone Industries), Other Woman, This Grief Will Be Of Use (Theatre Rocius), Coach, LesbianLoveOctagon (Sorority), Lydia, Lydia Trueblood (Edinburgh Fringe) UPCOMING: Mrs. Hodges Country Star, Space Rock Opera (Traveling Showcase Productions) TV/FILM: “Queenpins,” “Rutherford Falls,” “The Affair,” “I’m Dying Up Here,” “Devs,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” “The Middle,” “Shameless,” “Silicon Valley,” UPCOMING: “In Order To Be Here,” “Spit Me Out” www.lizeldridge.com

Praised for his purity of tone and expressive musicianship, bass/baritone Scott Graff has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Musica Angelica, the Carmel Bach Festival, California Bach Society, HEX, and Synchromy. Now in his 24th season with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, he was part of their touring company presenting a staged production of Orlando di Lasso’s monumental Lagrime di San Pietro (directed by Peter Sellars) which was featured at the Salzburg Festival and has been seen in concerts halls around the world. Scott has also participated in soundtrack recordings for more than 70 feature films and television projects.

The Interdependence Community Choir is a 35-voice blended community and professional choir. It is one of many ways  Metabolic Sonics investigates the means by which sound waves generate physical and biological change and exchange across landscapes.

Performers joining us today include:

SOPRANOS Carolyne Aycaguer, Cindy Bautista, Jen Curtis, Camilla Fimbres, Maria Karras, Dani Lunn, Kate Mccallum, Elliot Menard (section leader), Claudia Reisenberger, Nina Sarnelle, Roxanne Steinberg

ALTOS Lauren Bon, Liz Eldridge (section leader), Bella Escobar, Mallory Fabian, Alice Fung, DeRainer Holland, Milli Macen-Moore, Kelly Majewski, Andrea (Drea) Martinez, Robyn Morrison, Livia Reiner

TENORS Aaron Ebensperger, Kion Heidari (section leader), Adam Hersko-RonaTas, Doug Lee, Valecia Phillips, Alex Tanasi

BASSES Dave Baine, Adam Drici, Stefano Galli, Scott Graff (section leader), Thomas Hamilton, Michael Harris, Jim Sheftel, Diego Zapata