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13TH ANNUAL LOS ANGELES WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL: Kicks Off Tonight With Opening Ceremony; Performances March 23-26 at Highways Art Center
“Festival 2006: Solo, But Not Alone” takes place at Highways, the interdisciplinary arts center in Santa Monica. The Festival kicks off on Thursday, March 23 at 7 p.m. with its traditional Opening Night Champagne Gala and Awards Ceremony, recognizing four distinguished women for exceptional achievement in and commitment to theatre. The theme is “BRAVA!” and performances include dancer Sri Susilowati who performs “Love’s All Worshipped Tomb,” a piece exploring the emotions and feelings surrounding the experience of breast cancer; and actor Megan Sullivan in “I Hate Musicals,” in which a musical theatre performer gets more than she bargained for at an audition.
The honorees include : Lee Meriwether (Eternity Award). A member of Theatre West since its inception over 4 decades ago, she appeared with Betty Garrett in “Spoon River Anthology,” with Richard Dreyfuss in “Aesop in Central Park,” and with Carroll O’Connor in “The Ladies of Hanover Street.” She was Miss America 1955, the original Today Girl on NBC and subsequently starred in nine other TV series including “Barnaby Jones” and “All My Children.” She appears this June in the Theatre West production of “Nunsense” at the Madrid Theatre.
Freda Payne (Integrity Award). The legendary vocalist frequently made the list of The World’s Most Beautiful Women, appeared on Broadway in the Tony Award winning production of the Comden-Green-Styne musical “Hallelujah, Baby!”; as Ella Fitzgerald in “Ella”; and in films .
Ada Luz Pla (Rainbow Award). The actress/producer who appeared frequently with Blue Sphere Alliance in recent years has worked tirelessly and extensively with multicultural at-risk youth through the discipline of theatre.
Maria Costa (Maverick Awardee). With her show “Macho Men and theWomen Who Love Them,” she has blazed a trail as a woman in a starring role who is simultaneously gorgeous, hilarious, and Latina .
Hosts: Anna Maria Horsford (“Amen,” “The Shield”) and Ted Lange (the recent stage hit “National Pastime,” “The Love Boat”).
Subsequent programs present excerpted and full-length works by women solo performers.
Friday, March 24 at 8 p.m. Program theme: “BLOODLINES.”
In “Slanted,” Andrea Lwin depicts a quirky Chinese-raised Muslim girl whose quest for social acceptance is thwarted by her immigrant mom.
Juliette Jeffers presents an excerpt from her acclaimed show “Batman and Robin in the Boogie Down.” On the tenth anniversary of her brother’s death, Juliette takes a poignant yet funny look back on their close relationship.
Stand-up comic Bernadette Balagtas riffs on her view of life as a Filipina-American.
Host: Michele LaMar Richards (“The Bodyguard”) and Joyce Guy (“The West Wing,” “Nobel’s Son,” choreographer for the current play “Beneath Riplling Water.”).
Saturday, March 25 at 2 p.m. Program theme: “UNSILENCED.”
Renowned gospel singer Ruth Featherstone sings “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” and “The Impossible Dream.” There are also three theatre pieces:
“Eenie Meenie,” with Teresa Willis. A young woman recounts her introduction to racial differences that include the first time she meets an African American, while she invites the audience to look at their own experiences with racism.
“The Fannie Lou Hamer Story,” with mZuri. This is a chronicle of the struggle of the famed civil rights activist for African American voting rights in Mississippi.
“Slow Children Playing,” with Anna Marie Agniel. The heartwarming story of a girl’s developmentally delayed life as told through the eyes of her “normal” sister.
Hosts: Shirley Jo Finney (NAACP Theatre Award winner for directing “Yellowman”) and Ella Joyce (“Roc,” “Bubba Ho-Tep,” the new play about Rosa Parks, “A Rose Among Thorns”).
Saturday, March 25 at 8 p.m. Program theme: “RAW”
“The Italian in Me,” with Dina Morrone. The wacky journey of an Italian-American actress who tries to be taken seriously as a performer in Italy. A 25-minute excerpt of her 2006 show.
“From the Chronicles of Odisia Sanchez,” with Monica Sanchez. Described as “an autobiographical odyssey that is a personal mythology, a travelogue of the heart.”
“Mama Was a Bad Muther….Shut Yo Mouth,” with Fylicia Renee King.” This piece, set in Omaha, Nebraska, takes a look at one woman’s wild mother, using a moving and grooving house party as the backdrop for her mother’s world.
Hosts: The sultry 3 BLACQUE CHIX (Mariann Aalda, Lola Love, Iona Morris), stars of the stage hit “Herotique-aahh.”
Sunday, March 26 at 2 p.m. Program theme: “HANDPRINTS.”
“Bruised, But Not Broken,” with Cynthia Foreman. She chronicles her journey from winning the title of Miss Teenage Black America to marrying, the Heavyweight Champion of the World, George Foreman.
“I Didn’t Cry,” with Sergia Perez. A young woman recounts the life of her older sibling, who contracted HIV from the heroin addict who subjected her to domestic violence.
Jennifer Lanier presents “None of the Above,” a wild theatre ride through moments of racial, gender and gay/straight identity with a tail-end baby boomer.
Hosts: Tangie Ambrose (“Out of Practice”) and Deborah Lawlor (Co-Producer of Fountain Theatre).
Sunday, March 26 at 8 p.m. Program theme: “RIFFS.”
“Good Girls Don’t, But Indian Girls Do.” A theatre piece with Indian comic Vijai Nathan.
Gospel artist Ruth Featherstone returns with the inspirational song “Center of My Joy.”
“Venice Black & Brown.” Storyteller Lindsey Haley begins her piece in 1971, when there was still a thriving Chicano and Black community in Venice, California, before the onset of gentrification and gang violence.
“Sax Tracks,” with Sarah Underwood. A fusion of theatre and music in which the Chicago jazz saxophonist takes a look at her humorous and flavorful journey along her musical way.
Dawn Norfleet, flutist, jazz and r&b vocalist and award-winning composer, will perform her “jazz-influenced sonic stylings.”
Hosts: Award-winning vocalist/actor Freda Payne (“Band of Gold,” “Bring the Boys Home”) and comedy star Edie McClurg (“7th Heaven”).
The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival was founded by current Executive Producer Adilah Barnes and by Miriam Reed. Its Honorary Chairpersons are Danny Glover and Hattie Winston. The Festival is an annual event unique among American cultural institutions and should not be missed.
Highways, the performance venue, is located at 1651 Eighteenth Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404.
Admission to the Gala Opening Night is $30 per individual ticket, $50 a pair. Tickets for all other programs are $20. Student, senior and industry tickets, $18.
Reservations: (818) 760-0408. Online reservations will be available at http://www.lawtf.com
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Source: LAWTF
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