Diana Colson
Diana Colson grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from Scripps College in Claremont, California, and received her MA from University of California, Berkeley. Married to sculptor Frank Colson, the couple settled in Florida where they raised two sons, Kevin and Sean. A music teacher in the Sarasota County public schools, Diana was named “Teacher of the Year.” She lived a double life: Educator by day and Songwriter-Playwright by night, as she created book, music, and/or lyrics for three full-length musicals, all successfully produced on stage.
Two of these musicals were presented in Florida at the beautiful Sarasota Opera House: the first was her solo creation, Cornelius Coyote; the second was Eye of Ra, written in collaboration with writer/composer Tom Suta. Diana then went on to create music and lyrics for The Fabulous Mrs. Palmer (book by Jo Morello), which was presented at Neel Auditorium on the campus of what is now State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.
Diana also found time to follow her dream of becoming a filmmaker. Traveling with husband and sons to such far-flung places as Bali, Thailand, Nepal, India, Mexico, Africa, Panama, Japan, Haiti, Hong Kong, and Australia, Diana used these countries as settings for sixteen short films, many of which garnered awards at major festivals. It was while working on a film in Bali that Diana first conceived the plot for TRIPLE DESTINY.
Her three most successful films were produced with Swain Film and Video: Piñata received a $12,500 award from the Mexican Tourist Bureau, and played for two years on the children’s TV series, Calliope. Panama Canal—the Longest Shortcut was a historic documentary which earned many accolades at film festivals. Last but not least was African Songalongs, based on 19 of Diana’s original songs and still in distribution. These Songalongs featured Diana’s animal photographs taken on safari in Africa.
A montage Diana’s work is posted on youtube. A sampling of six of her films and musicals can be seen in this ten-minute video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-T_N-m2d0k
Besides writing for stage and screen, Diana Colson was for five years a newspaper columnist for Pelican Press, a weekly Sarasota publication. She currently writes for the Island Visitor, a group of monthly papers distributed in Sarasota. She was recently honored for Creativity by Ringling College of Art and Design with a month-long exhibition set up by the college to showcase her films, musicals, stories, articles, lyrics and songs.
The novel, TRIPLE DESTINY, represents her first major foray into the world of published fiction. A screenplay version of the tale exists, one created in collaboration with television writer, Dawn Aldredge Cohan.
It comes as no surprise that Diana has already composed and recorded the piano theme for the poignant love scene which lies at the heart of the screenplay.
