Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival Opens March 25

Last March, the Annual Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival was just two weeks away from opening when we were forced to postpone because of the emerging coronavirus pandemic, which shuttered live performance venues across the country. The pandemic is still with us for a while longer, so we're coming back in March 2021 with six consecutive dates of virtual presentations. The overall theme of the Festival this year is AND STILL WE RISE!....because we do.

The Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival (LAWTF) marks 28 years of producing well over 600 extraordinary multicultural and multidisciplinary solo performers from around the globe.

The longest running Annual Solo Festival for women in Los Angeles, LAWTF will take place March 25- March 30, 2021 online.

The virtual Champagne GALA and Awards Ceremony will take place Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.PST and will be hosted by Ted Lange (The Love Boat) and Hattie Winston (Becker). WITH Fay Hauser-Price (Hope Builders) at the helm as Festival Director . The event will honor five women of exceptional achievement and contribution to the world of theatre:

Infinity Awardee- Diahann Carroll (awarded posthumously);

Rainbow Awardee- Paula Donnelly;

Integrity Awardee- Akuyoe Graham;

Eternity Awardee- Shigemi Matsumoto;

Maverick Awardee- Rose Portillo.

There will be live performances in addition to the awards presentation. Theme: Empowered Women.. Performers include:

Jacquelyn Brown-Benefield. Rise Up and I Am Enough. These two uplifting songs celebrate personal empowerment.

Juli Kim in Abandon. In this dance piece, the woman abandons both beauty and docility in favor of inner strength and power.

The rest of the schedule is as follows:

Friday, March 26, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Theme: Balancing Acts. Hosted by Margaret Avery (The Color Purple) and Dawn Didawick (Hart of Dixie):

Heather Dowling in Fertile. Explores the expectation and ultimate resolution of procreation.

Lynne Jassem in Tapping My Way to the Nuthouse. One child dancer story of mental pain and ultimate mental health is told through the lenses of multi-media, tap dance, mime, music and humor.

Dagmar Stansova in Loose Underwear. . From exorcisms to org*sms, the daughter of a New Age Holocaust survivor is compelled to "cha-cha" away the wounds of her ancestors.

Karen A. Clark in The Women. In this excerpt, through music, poetry and storytelling, Karen A. reflects on the women in her family, particularly her mother, who provided a "wow" factor.

Saturday, March 27, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Theme: Truth to Power. Hosted by Florence LaRue (The 5th Dimension) and Rosie Lee Hooks (Knock Me a Kiss):

Roxanne Beckford in Walk Good: A Jamerican Journey. How the littlest Head Girl at St. Andrews Preparatory in Kingston, Jamaica became a driver in a presidential motorcade for the leader of the free world...after pit stops as a beauty queen, a mother of four, and an actress.

Cynthia Ling Lee in Lost Chinatowns. A dance-theatre work that explores the destruction, lost vibrancy and historic erasure of Chinatowns in Santa Cruz, CA from 1860-1955.

Miriam Reed in Susan B. Anthony Says a Word. A young Susan B. Anthony discovers why women MUST have the vote.

Sharon Nyree Williams in Dare to Claim the Sky. . Based on her self-published anthology of the same name, Dare to Claim the Sky is an honest and unfiltered spoken word journey of one woman that addresses family, religion, depression and being Black in this society.

Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Theme: Secrets. Hosted by Juliette Jeffers (Chicago Med) and Jessica Lynn Johnson (Soaring Solo LLC):

Barbara Brownell in Finding My Light. It's not the cards you are dealt but the attitude that makes all the difference.

Dee Freeman in The Poison Gun. Dee, a naïve 6-year-old Black girl from rural Louisiana becomes a key witness in a murder investigation as she fights to keep a secret from a racist cop who has his own agenda for finding out the truth.

Pamela Najera in Too Old, Too Asian, Too Short. Through storytelling, dance, and multimedia, Pamela recounts growing up in a family with secrets and lies and connects the dots of a life that land her a career as a production dancer and magician's assistant on a cruise ship.

Monday, March 29, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Theme: Boxed In, Set Free. Hosted by Iona Morris (Celeste's Dreams) and Kat Kramer (Turnover):

Petal d'Avril in Forgetting, Not Forgotten. Petal's life is abruptly interrupted when her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in this story of triumph in a shattered world.

Vanessa Boss in Uprooted. Buckle your seat belts as the creatures of Vanessa's inner world take you on the flight of her life amidst disturbances that trigger violent weather on a journey that ultimately safely lands on Vanessa's strength.

Tuesday, March 30, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Theme: Unbound. Hosted by Angela Gibbs (This Is Us) and Jahna Houston (Triumphant: She Fights to Win!)):

Jacquelyn Brown-Benefield. (See March 25 description).

Crystal Bush in Chrissy Meth. Somehow, from the depths of drug addiction, Chrissy Meth finds hope, and through spirituality and yoga begins to put the pieces of her life back together.

Jannica Olin in (Im0Perfekt. A solo show that takes a look at identity, beauty and labels, and how you sometimes need to (literally) lose a part of yourself in order to discover who you truly are.

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 and should not be missed as LAWTF celebrates its 28TH Anniversary.

Festival 2021 Managing Producer: Kelly McMahon.

The Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival is a non-profit organization. The Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival organization is supported this year in part by Los Angeles County Arts and Culture; Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Los Angeles; City National Bank; Women in Media; KPFK 90.7; and Adilah Barnes Productions.

Admission to the GALA on March 25 is $25.00. For the other programs, ticket prices this year include general admission single show tickets at $15.00 until March 18 or $20.00 thereafter. A VIP all-access pass for the entire Festival is available for $90.00. Reservations: (818) 760-0408 or go to http://www.lawtf.org To join and follow LAWTF on Facebook and Twitter, click on their links at http://www.lawtf.org

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