The 31st Annual Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival (LAWTF) has a roster of accomplished co-hosts for its six programs. This year’s overall theme is Telling Our Truths. The four days of performances will take place at Theatre 68 Arts Complex- The Rosalie at 5112 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA

Thursday, March 28, 2024 at 8 pm

The Champagne GALA and Awards Ceremony will occur next door to Theatre 68 Arts Complex at the Lankershim Arts Center located at 5108 Lankershim Boulevard. Eight deserving women will be honored with the Festival’s Annual Theatre Awards for their laudable contributions to the theatre world (who will be named in a separate press release). Spoken word and dance performances will also be presented. The theme of the GALA: In Honor Of Hosted by Hattie Winston and Margaret Avery. Karen A. Clark, “The Women” In this excerpt, through music and spoken word, Karen honors women and reflects on the women in her family, particularly her mother. Juli Kim, “Salpuri Adagio” A slow-tempo Korean cleansing dance that wishes great peace. Juli Kim, “Five Drum Dance” This pulsating dance incorporates the dancer playing five standing drums.

Friday, March 29 at 8 pm—Theme: Boxed In, Set Free

Hosted by Deborah Sharpe-Taylor and Clarinda Ross Tashara Gavin-Moorehead, “Summertime, Sunflowers” This dance poem explores the history of African Americans as related to the sunflower. Janice Creneti, “My Year of Saying No” Join Janice on her COVID-19 journey of rejecting patriarchy, perfection, and guilt to find her way back to herself. Vanessa Hernandez Cruz, “Metal, Plastic, Skin” This piece explores how vulnerability fatigue impacts Vanessa’s experiences as a Disabled woman, and how medical equipment has been a form of freedom, survival, and assimilation in this inaccessible world. Paige Wilhide, “Breakup Addict” This piece weaves together a hilarious and heartfelt narrative of one woman’s journey to overcome sex and love addiction through her spiritual healing of the heart.

Saturday, March 30, 2024, 3 pm—Theme: Cultural Road Maps

Hosted by Florence LaRue (The 5th Dimension) and Rosie Lee Hooks (A Heated Discussion) Sona Lewis, “Goddess Dance” This traditional Kathak Indian dance pays homage to 14th-century compositions. Jiyoung Choi, “MacBeth’s Lady Shaman” This Korean monodrama movement piece focuses on female voices in Shakespeare’s works, symbolically giving these characters a spiritual voice of power. Sona Lewis, “Tarana” This traditional Kathak Indian dance pays homage to 14th-century compositions. Jovelyn Richards, “She Cry Dem Blues” A night of solitude, secrets, sensuality, and confessions come together at Tootsie’s, a 1930s Detroit jazz club, where the owner’s unspoken love finally reveals his true feelings.

Saturday, March 30, 2024, 8 pm—Theme: Outside The Lines

Hosted by Fay Hauser-Price (Actor/Director) and Jahna Cole Houston (Actor/Producer/Host) Clarinda Ross, “Spit Like a Big Girl” A southern “daddy’s girl” grows up and learns to fiercely advocate for her differently-abled daughter. Valoneecia Tolbert, “Tales of a Blerd Ballerina” Through dance and music, this choreopoem delves into a cultural pride and yearning in a world that often limits Black identity. Kathryn Taylor Smith, “A Mile in My Shoes” Esther, an omniscient “Shoe Whisperer” walks us through a day in her life on Skid Row.

Sunday, March 31, 2024, 3 pm—Theme: Looking Back

Hosted by Kat Kramer (Turnover) and JC Cadena (Actor/Producer) Shelley Cooper, “Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum” Jenny Lind, known as the “Swedish Nightingale” speaks of a side of P.T. Barnum that she came to know on her American Tour. Alina Cenal, “Cuba: My Return” A woman returns to her motherland, Cuba, after being gone for 54 years. Ada Cheng, “The Memories We Keep” A woman reflects on the meaning of memories in her complex relationship with her mother. Dee Freeman, “Poison Gun” A six-year-old remembers being placed in the impossible position of telling what she knows about her grandfather’s secret to authorities in the Deep South.

Sunday, March 31, 2024, 7 pm— Theme: Rising Above

Hosted by Terrie Silverman (Creative Rites) and Ada Cheng (Actor/Educator) Lynn Mcnutt, “BLUE: A Rhapsody in Blubber” A baby blue whale, an old man, and a mother intertwined by whale song, dive deep into their separate, yet united stories. Jana Krumholtz, “6 Million Jews Didn’t Die for You…” A dancer finds oneself amidst the burden and ancestral trauma of the Holocaust. Liza Dealey-Thomason, “Supernova” Supernova is a fanciful musical that explores the need to be the hero who tries to take care of everyone else and ultimately arrives at the celebration of discovering the joy of taking care of self.