Author Takes Readers Along On Her Journey From Sutton Place To An Oregon Commune 

Remember the days when you were tempted to tune in, turn on, and drop out? Many baby boomers shared the dream of escaping the cruel world, but writer/actress Carol Schlanger actually did. She will discuss her new book Hippie Woman Wild: Life and Love on an Oregon Commune at Jewish Women's Theatre's Sunday Morning at the Braid on August 11.

Schlanger tells how an "off-center, somewhat spoiled, idealistic and talented young actress from Manhattan's tony Sutton Place learned to chop wood, carry water and transform from a girl to a woman."

Tickets are $25 and include a light brunch, author talk, audience Q and A and a book signing.

Henry Winkler, a classmate of Schlanger's at Yale Drama School, who wrote the forward to the book says, "Carol can't say a sentence-she can't write a sentence without making you laugh."

Award-winning screenwriter Arlene Sarner, who will moderate the author talk, adds " I wish I was as brilliantly funny as Carol Schlanger. I wish I had joined her commune in the 70's and lived her outrageous, back-to-the-land life. But since I wasn't and didn't, reading her riveting gut-busting and brave work is the next best thing."

Schlanger is an award-winning actress and writer who has been nominated for both the LA Dramalogue Critics Award and the LA Playwriter's Monologue Slam. Her plays have been produced by Joseph Papp, Ted Danson and Second Stage in New York. She appears regularly on TV shows, including Mike & Molly, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Rizzoli and Isles and has worked in film, including The China Syndrome. She has written for Imagine Entertainment, freelanced on two pilots for CBS and her plays have been published by the National Organization of Women's Playwrights and Theatre of Note.

Schlanger's book takes readers to "a place where we'd never have to depend on the outside world." Her Texas boyfriend told her he hated New York and got lost on its subways. After a short separation, when he left for Oregon, she joined him and "totally embraced hippie life." She gave up underwear and even learned to do her own laundry. That's just an example of how her book comically details the ways in which she "wasn't a very competent hippie."

In another chapter, she learned to recognize edible mushrooms even though her "previous experience with fungus was limited to toenails."

JWT's The Braid, voted one of the "Best Live Theaters on the Westside" two years in a row by The Argonaut, stages original dramatic performances, contemporary art exhibits, classes, and other events showcasing the diverse community of writers, artists and creators who celebrate Jewish life, one story at a time.

Carol Schlanger's author talk will take place at The Braid, Jewish Women's Theatre's performance and art space, at 2912 Colorado Ave., #102, Santa Monica, at 10 a.m. on Sunday, August 12. Tickets are $25 and include a light brunch. For tickets and additional information, visit: bit.ly/hippiewomanjw

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