The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival (LAWTF) is excited to announce our exciting line-up for Festival 2017, marking our 24 years of producing well over 500 solo shows. The 24th Annual Festival, “TAKING FLIGHT!” will include 18 powerful female solo artists performing their diverse one-woman shows. The oldest women's solo Festival in Los Angeles, LAWTF will hold our Champagne Gala and Awards Ceremony on March 23, 2017 at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Barnsdall Park located at 4800 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, CA 90027 and the five subsequent programs March 24-26, 2017 at the Electric Lodge located at 1416 Electric Avenue, Venice, CA 90291. The theme of Festival 2017 is “TAKING FLIGHT”.
Our dynamic line-up for Festival 2017 includes:
LOS ANGELES WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL
24TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL
“TAKING FLIGHT ”
MARCH 23-26, 2017
CHAMPAGNE GALA AND AWARDS CEREMONY
BARNSDALL GALLERY THEATRE
4800 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90027
MARCH 23, 2017
THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2017
CHAMPAGNE GALA
7PM
AWARDS CEREMONY
8PM
“STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF”
CO-HOSTS:HATTIE WINSTON(“Becker”) and TED LANGE (“The Love Boat”)
PERFORMERS:
Eloise Laws ( Back By Popular Demand!)
Award- winning vocalist Ms. Eloise Laws will return to the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival to sing.
ELECTRIC LODGE
1416 Electric Avenue
Venice, CA 90291
MARCH 24-26, 2017
FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 8PM
“BREAKING FREE”
CO-HOSTS:
TICO WELLS (The Five Heartbeats)
SKY PALKOWITZ (America: Don’t Hang Up!!)
PERFORMERS:
HEATHER DOWLING (“Unemployed: Finally”)
This is the story of a woman who had more than 30 jobs in 30 years before finally doing what everyone said she couldn’t.
NANCY MA (“Home”)
Nancy is a first generation Chinese American. Follow her as she goes from New York to new hope, from family to faith, from one mess to the next. This is her journey to find her way home.
MISTY MONROE (“Unapologetically Black”)
This woman moves through stages of “Nigrescence” having been raised in suburban Northern California and spending summers in South Central LA. She deals with culture shock, the devastating effects on crack cocaine on her family and her ultimate self-acceptance.
JOYFUL RAVEN (“Tales of a Sexual Tomboy”)
A raucous comedy about a horny tomboy, equipped with bad boundaries from her hippie upbringing, looking for empowerment in all the wrong places.
SATURDAY, MARCH, 25TH
3PM
“BABIES, BODIES AND MOTHERS”
CO-HOSTS:
STARLETTA DUPOIS (“The Notebook”)
ROSIE LEE HOOKS (“Knock Me a Kiss”)
PERFORMERS:
DIANE BARNES (“My Stroke of Luck”)
Can the good doctor become a good patient? One woman’s catastrophe and recovery looks at love, family and seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
MISSY HAIRSTON (“Awkwardly Fabulous”)
A little girl’s journey to womanhood and the people, places and situations that begin to uproot her confidence in herself and plant seeds of doubt about her body, love life and life, in general.
VANNIA IBARGUEN (“Inhabited Woman”)
In search of balance, this dance piece explores the physical and emotional changes of motherhood.
LISA KOTIN (“How to Make Love with the Lights On”)
A woman receives instructions from her inner voice on how to release self-consciousness of her body during intimacy.
SATURDAY, MARCH 25TH
8PM
“AROUND THE WORLD AND BACK”
CO-HOSTS:
ELOISE LAWS (award-winning vocalist)
JAMES PICKENS, JR. (Grey's Anatomy)
PERFORMERS:
MICHELE FARBMAN (“Dora Maar”)
Dora gives voice to her seductive relationship with painter Picasso and her own art form of photography.
SLOAN ROBINSON (“Bananas! A Day in the Life of Josephine Baker”)
An excerpt of the tour-de-force play based on one of the world’s most versatile and beloved American entertainers who made Paris her home.
ANGELINA VILLAPIANO (“Sorta Rican”)
From suburbia to the block to the island, Angelina embarks on a journey of cultural identity that captures the essence of one slice of the Latino-American experience.
SUNDAY, MARCH 26TH
3PM
“AND ALL THAT JAZZ”
CO-HOSTS:
LYNNE CONNER (Filmmaker of Raising Kings)
DEBORAH SHARPE-TAYLOR (Actor/Vocalist)
PERFORMERS:
LYNNE JASSEM (“From Como to Homo”)
A ten-year-old tap dancer on “The Perry Como” television show in 1957 juggles her aggressive stage mother and career, all the while trying to hide her burning desire to be a boy.
MELISSA RANDEL (“The Hat”)
Having been raised by one jazz musician and married to another, the themes of silence, imbalance and unapologetic love continue to resonate for this woman.
ALICE WILLIAMS (“Cousin
Alice”)
A London vocalist/ukulele
player shares her authentic and versatile voice that has been influenced by
jazz, blues, swing and Calypso.
SUNDAY, MARCH 26TH
7PM
“UNSILENCED”
CO-HOSTS:
KAREN A. CLARK (The Women)
ANGELA ROBINSON (Filmmaker of Curtsy Mister)
PERFORMERS:
CARLA DELANEY (“Voices”)
It’s not until this voice-over artist meets the surprising voices in her head, her heart, her snotty respiratory system that she realizes the value of her own voice.
LOREE GOLD (“Snatched…Stories From Down There”)
This travelogue woven with herstory and LGBT history is a sexuality charged, soulful, and sometimes devastating ride through issues of ageism, transgenderism, family dynamics, bad choices, grief, grace, love, loss and mostly lust - and all the trouble it gets you into.
JULIETTE JEFFERS (“Judgment Day”)
Questioning motives and faith, this piece asks what if God is held responsible for all of the injustices that African Americans have endured. Thought-provoking and raw, we are left to ponder free will, destiny and culpability.
AI YOSHIHARA (“My River Phoenix”)
A woman searches for her own River Phoenix after his passing and finds him in the man she marries in America.
