An artist with range has tastes to match

Playwright Laurel Ollstein is a bit of a cliche in this town: Actress-writer-director. But she’s the real deal. As a member of the Hollywood ensemble company the Actors’ Gang, she has worked as an actress and playwright in many collaborative pieces, including “Hysteria,” “Blood Love Madness” and “Insomniac.” Her award-winning one-woman play on writer Dorothy Parker was produced across the country and she currently teaches playwriting, acting, directing and screenwriting. Her next role is that of writer and co-director of “Showing Our Age,” a play exploring the myths and realities of aging and based on material she gathered through interviews at 40 senior centers. She chatted with Liesl Bradner about her favorite pop-culture pastimes.

TV PICKS:

I really like the “John Adams” miniseries on HBO. The strike put a hold on a lot of things I liked watching. I’m glad “The Riches” was brought back. I love “Entourage.”

HEAVY ROTATION ON THE iPOD:

I like Lily Allen (for working out). I’m into a bunch of the good, old stuff like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, the Beatles.

SOUNDTRACK FOR THE COMMUTE:

NPR, mostly Terry Gross and Patt Morrison. “Car Talk” -- I love Click and Clack. They are fabulous to listen to -- I feel like I’m learning something in the car. For a long commute, books on tape like George Eliot. There is something soothing about having an old, dense classic read to you by a beautiful voice.

IN THE NETFLIX QUEUE:

I’m going through a Clint Eastwood phase right now. Rewatching a lot of Alfred Hitchcock films -- “Rope.”

IN THE BEDSTAND LIBRARY:

Anything by Dashiell Hammett. Right now, I’m reading “The Thin Man.” I love the witty repartee, gritty dialogue.

GUILTY PLEASURE:

I’m a secret “Law & Order” addict. I’ll watch any of them -- it’s like comfort food, it calms me.

SECRET WEAPON FOR NAVIGATING THE CULTURE:

Seeing movies in the middle of the day. It’s calming -- even better than yoga.