February 25, 2024

THE 31st ANNUAL LOS ANGELES WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL TELLING OUR TRUTHS RUNS MARCH 28- MARCH 31

The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival will take place March 28- March 31. The overall theme of the Festival this year is TELLING OUR TRUTHS.

The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival (LAWTF) marks 31 years of producing close to 700 extraordinary multicultural and multidisciplinary solo performers from around the globe.

The longest-running Annual Solo Festival for women in Los Angeles, LAWTF will kick off this year’s celebration with its catered Annual Champagne GALA on March 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Lankershim Arts Center, located at 5108 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91601 before moving next door to Theatre 68 Arts Complex- The Rosalie that evening for its Annual Awards Ceremony at 8 p.m. Other programs will continue over the weekend, March 29 through March 31, at Theatre 68 Arts Complex- The Rosalie, located at 5112 Lankershim Boulevard.

The evening will be hosted by Hattie Winston (Becker) and Margaret Avery (The original The Color Purple). The event will honor eight deserving women of exceptional achievement and contribution to the theatre world. The festive evening is named In Honor Of, The awardees include:

SHIRLEY JO FINNEY- Infinity Award
Presented to an artist who has passed on and leaves behind a legacy that will always be remembered.

caryn desai and MARIA G. MARTINEZ- Eternity Award
Presented to an artist or individual whose lifetime achievements have made a lasting contribution to the world of theatre

WENDY RAQUEL ROBINSON and NAOMI GROSSMAN- Maverick Award
Presented to an artist or individual whose work has set a high standard of individuality and self-styled creativity.

LISA SANAYE DRING and CAROLYN RATTERAY- Integrity Award
Presented to an artist or individual who has brought credibility and dignity to her work.

JESSICA LYNN JOHNSON- Rainbow Award
Bestowed to an artist or individual for her diverse contributions to fostering non-traditional and multicultural theatre works.

There will be live performances. Performers include:

Karen A. Clark in 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 is a slow-tempo Korean cleansing dance that wishes great peace. 

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 (Vocalist) and Clarinda Ross (Actor)

Tashara Gavin-Moorehead in Summertime, Sunflowers
This dance poem explores the history of African Americans as related to the sunflower.

Janice Creneti in 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 Cruz in 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 in Break-Up 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 at 3 pm Theme: Cultural Road Maps

Hosted by Florence LaRue (The 5th Dimension) and Rosie Lee Hooks (Sweet Honey in the Rock)

Sona Lewis in Goddess Dance and Tarana.
This artist presents two traditional Kathak Indian dances that pay homage to 14th-century compositions.

Jiyoung Choi in 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.

Jovelyn Richards in 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 at 8 p.m. Theme: Outside the Lines

Hosted by Fay Hauser-Price (Actor/Director) and Jahna Cole Houston (Actor/Producer/Host)

Clarinda Ross in Spit Like a Big Girl
A Southern “daddy’s girl” grows up and learns to fiercely advocate for her differently-abled daughter.

Valoneecia Tolbert in 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 in A Mile in My Shoes
Esther, an omniscient “Shoe Whisperer,” walks us through a day of her life on Skid Row.

Sunday, March 31 at 3 pm Theme: Looking Back

Hosted by Kat Kramer (Turnover) and JC Cadena (Actor/Producer)

Shelley Cooper in Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum
Jenny Lind, known as the “Swedish Nightingale,” speaks of a side of a side of P.T. Barnum that she came to know on her American tour.

Alina Cenal in Cuba: My Return
A woman returns to her motherland, Cuba, after being gone for 54 years.

Ada Cheng in The Memories We Keep.

A woman reflects on the meaning of memories in her complex relationship with her mother.

Dee Freeman in Poison Gun
A six-year-old remembers being placed in the impossible position of telling what she knew about her grandfather’s secret to authorities in the Deep South.

Sunday, March 31 at 7 pm Theme: Rising Above

Hosted by Terrie Silverman (Creative Rites) and Ada Cheng (Actor/Educator)

Lynn McNutt in BLUE: A Rhapsody in Blubber
A baby blue whale, an older man, and a mother intertwined by whale song dive deep into these separate yet united stories.

Jana Krumholtz in 6 Million Jews Didn’t Die for You…..
A dancer finds herself amidst the burden and ancestral trauma of the Holocaust.

Liza Dealey-Thomason in Supernova
Supernova is a fanciful musical that successfully 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 caring for oneself.

The four days of Festival performances will be preceded by Intersection, a day of workshops and panels on Saturday, March 23, at the Lankershim Arts Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601. For information, go to http://www.lawtf.org

Founded by Executive Producer Adilah Barnes and Miriam Reed, the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival is an Annual Event unique among Los Angeles cultural institutions, not to be missed. Jessica Lynn Johnson directs this year’s Festival.

This year’s organizational funders of Official Sponsors and Government Grantors include the Los Angeles County Arts and Culture, California Arts Council, California Wellness Foundation, City of Culver City, Department of Cultural Affairs-LA, City National Bank, Blackbaud Giving Fund, 4imprint, KPFK 90.7 FM, and Adilah Barnes Productions.

The March 28 GALA tickets are $60 each or $100 a pair (including reception). Tickets to each of the weekend’s other five shows are $25 for early birds (through March 10) and $30 after that. A VIP all-access pass for the entire weekend is $150—group sales (10+) for the GALA, $45. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.lawtf.org. For more information, questions, or ticket prices, visit us at info@lawtf.org or call us at (818) 760-0408.