Dear Friend: :

Life is short and precious.  It should be fun.  But for some, life is a constant challenge and battle. 

This is a call for creative, compassionate, brilliant and fun artist, poets, authors, entrepreneurs, business executives, politicians, non profit workers, and vendors to attend the Our Voices Our Stories Expo and The Our Voices Our Stories Play afterwards, or if you can't do it all, join us for some part of the evening. 

I would love for you to come to OVOS, or send a representative from your company, business, group, school, church, non-profit, fraternity, or sorority.  The play will start sharply at 7 p.m., and will be preceded by the OVOS Expo where we can all relax & enjoy a warm beautiful LA evening under the Hollywood sign, while exchanging ideas, literature, and strategies to change the world.

The expo will be from 4:30 to 7 p.m., Saturday, May 2, 2015 at the Barnsdall Gallery Park, shown below. It's a beautiful place that eyeballs the Hollywood sign.

OVOS is an edgy, funny, and entertaining play that is not preachy.

In 2013 at the Barnsdall, I offered BELIEVE the Voices of the Unheard, a version of it, and it left women weeping in my arms and caused a friend to become a Foster Mom shortly after seeing it. The work changes hearts!

Please watch the short 2 min trailor where at the 1:03 mark several of the young audience members speak about the impact it had on them in 2013.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q_lEPHM6j8

Please note, I did not tell them all to say that the show was amazing.  There were no bells, whistles, and tricks, but it was amazing because I write from the deepest fibers of my heart!  It's fun because I love music of all genres and there's a pop, rhythm, and beat to every word that keeps the audience clinging to their seats.

OVOS I will be even more amazing on Saturday May 2, 2015, 7 p.m.  Our Director, a young Theater and Film Professor at Compton College, has taken it to the next level.  I've attended two rehearsals and, literally, sat on the edge of my seat with my mouth hanging open in awe.

As you saw in the trailer, our sets are minimal, but the dramatic stories, intertwined with rap, gospel, pop, opera, and dance make for a heart-warming, memorable experience as two bleeding heart Beverly Hills attorneys, graduates of Yale, run a non-profit to help abused, abandoned, disabled, and indigent clients find their voice, tell their stories, and transform their lives.

OVOS celebrates triumphant spirits who thrive in the midst of challenges, who laugh through tears, who dance in the rain, and who make the best of the arms that support them. Two of our cast members are Autistic; my oldest son is autistic and part of our crew!

Our homeless character is represented by a dancer because of this woman:

Joann, my homeless friend, for the last 14 years who has lived on Ventura Blvd when she's not living with me or getting a break at a local hotel. She's a college graduate, trained dancer, who has debilitating mental illness.  But she's one of the sweetest, most gentle women I know ,and does not deserve to live and die in the street. 

OVOS will encourage the conversation of providing permanent homes for all Americans.  We can do it.

We also have a dancing usher. A clip from another performance is here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAYQbEvF5Uw  This makes for a fun and exciting beginning.

It's been an exciting journey developing this work but we really need inspiring partners to take this journey with us. If you're inclined to support this work, I would love chat with you for a few minutes.  You can reach me by email at memekellyinspires@gmail.com or at indelibleimpact@gmail.com

Although I've never let money stop me, to make it across the finish line, we are in need of financial donations to the Indelible Impact Program of Sisters Supporting Sisters (S3), a 501 (c) (3). I founded S3 while teaching in Watts after the mother of my favorite second grader showed up to a parent-teacher conference drunk and barefoot.  S3's Indelible Impact hosts the OVOS play, Expo, and movement and donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law. There is a donation button below. 

We also will host The Second Gala Celebration for Exceptional Young Adults with Disabilities at the end of the Special Olympic Season on Sunday, May 17th, 2015. Pictures of the First Gala Celebration are below:

 A little more about me:  I'm a graduate of UCLA, a teacher, and Mom of three adult sons. I'm married to my college sweetheart, a UCLA basketball player. I just received a stipend and fellowship to get my MFA in Creative Writing and Performing Arts at University of California, Riverside.

My opening statement of my application sums up why I'm writing to this note to you today:

"I believe that creative expression and theater can impact social change, and, thus, I write always with the intent of changing hearts.  My favorite quote is by playwright Jeff Stetson:

The role of the artist is to empower the weak while challenging the powerful; to provide hope in times of despair; to recognize beauty in those most despised; and to celebrate life in the middle of all that is dying."

This is what I seek to do with every fiber in my being for the rest of my days! I'm thrilled to have crossed paths with You.

I hope you will join me on this fun journey!  I look forward to learning more about you, your journey, your life work, and how you're impacting the world.  Together, we can all make a difference.

Peace, 

Meme Kelly

Writer, Producer, and Social Entrepreneur

www.ourvoicesourstories.com 

www.indelibleimpact.org 

818-284-9020, direct line