THEATER NOTES : Balancing Act : Carol Lynn Pearson describes her play, ‘Mother Wove the Morning,’ as ‘a search for the female face of God.’

Anyone who watches daytime talk shows or reads magazines such as People already may be familiar with Carol Lynn Pearson, whose 12-year marriage dissolved after her husband realized that he was a homosexual.

Six years later, Gerald Pearson died of complications resulting from acquired immune deficiency syndrome in her home, where she was caring for him. The experience was the subject of a book she wrote called “Goodbye, I Love You,” published by Random House and now in its fourth printing.

But that’s not why Carol Lynn Pearson will be appearing at Cal Lutheran University Jan. 22 to 24.

An actress, playwright and poet whose work has appeared in four best-selling volumes, anthologies and even Ann Landers’ column, Pearson will be performing her one-woman play, “Mother Wove the Morning.” The show will be held at the university’s Preus-Brandt Forum at 8 p.m. Jan. 22 and 23 and 2 p.m. Jan 24.

Pearson’s life is now a constant flow of performing, lecturing and other personal appearances, coupled with her continued writing and raising her four children.

“My life has not been boring; that is true,” said Pearson, 53. There also are two compelling reasons, she added, why she keeps so many different plates spinning.

“First, to feel that I am really living and making some sort of a contribution. Also,” she continued, with the timing of a skilled actor, “if I don’t write, I don’t eat.”

Born in Utah and raised in the Mormon church, Pearson was attending high school when she began considering a woman’s role in society. “I began keeping a diary, which now numbers thousands of pages,” she said. “Looking back, I find a passionate distress with male-centered spirituality. I remember weeping in college as I read books, trying to discover why maleness was favored.

“In early civilizations,” she said, “women did not lord over men the way that men have come to lord over women. I really resonate to the word partnership. Seemingly, our ancestors found a way to handle that; that simply hasn’t occurred to us.”

Pearson describes “Mother Wove the Morning” as “a search for the female face of God.” The motivation to write the play, she said, “was not unrelated to the struggle that I went through with my husband. The human race is 50% female, but we are taught to worship a male god and diminish femaleness.

“Seemingly God, certainly my church, and now my husband preferred men.”

Gerald Pearson died in July, 1984. The play made its debut in 1989 in Pearson’s Northern California hometown of Walnut Creek and has subsequently received favorable reviews from San Jose to Dublin, Ireland.

In the play, Pearson, dressed in white, pulls various props and accessories from an antique trunk as she personifies various real and composite women from throughout history: 19th-Century feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the biblical figure Ruth and Emma Smith, wife of the founder of the Mormon church.

Still a committed Mormon, Pearson said her play does not espouse the church’s conservative point of view. “I feel that I have a right and an obligation to help my community, as well as any other community, move into the frontier that is inevitable--the balance of male and female,” she said.

And the play’s message, she said, has wide appeal. “The men who come are often the most receptive members of the audience. In Arizona, I’ve had Sikhs with their white turbans tell me that they were very impressed with the play. Joan Baez saw it in San Jose and told me afterward how much she enjoyed the humor.”

That humor may come in part from Pearson’s ability to see both the laughable and serious sides of issues.

“I just had to giggle a month or so ago when I read that the Pope had gotten around to forgiving Galileo,” she said. “What we are going through now is much more important to the public. Whether the Earth revolves around the sun doesn’t affect our everyday lives.

“But whether the female revolves around the male affects everybody on Earth.”

For information on Pearson’s Cal Lutheran appearances, call 493-3151. “Mother Wove the Morning” is available in print or on videotape from the author. For information, write to 1384 Cornwall Court, Walnut Creek, CA 94506 or call (510) 906-8835.

*

Maybe they’ll get back to you: Cabrillo Music Theatre is gathering reminiscences and memorabilia in connection with its upcoming 25th anniversary fund-raising production, “The Night of 100 Stars.” Alumni of the company, or those who have programs or photographs from any of CMT’s shows, are asked to contact the theater at 483-8859.

CASTING CALL / AUDITIONS

Auditions for the Magnificent Moorpark Melodrama & Vaudeville Company’s upcoming “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp” will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at the company’s theater, 45 E. High St., Moorpark. The company is looking for a youthful Aladdin, and various men and women of all ages. Rehearsals are Monday through Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings, beginning Jan. 18. Performances will be Thursdays through Sundays from Feb. 26 to April 3. There will be some pay. Those interested should sign in at noon and be prepared to sing (bring your own sheet music), dance and do a cold reading. An accompanist will be provided.

For information, call 529-1212.

*

Open auditions are also being held for the Conejo Players’ upcoming production of “Into the Woods” at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 24, and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 and 26 at the company’s theater at 351 S. Moorpark Road, Thousand Oaks. You should be prepared to sing a song of your choice (bring sheet music, accompaniment provided) that will showcase your ability as a singer and as an actor. The music here is by Stephen Sondheim. The cast includes women and men 18 to 60 years old; no children. Stage crew, seamstresses and other backstage people are needed.

For information, call Sandie Sigrist at (818) 706-3169, or Marianne Carney at (818) 597-8322.