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Women's festival
looks outward as well as inward Los Angeles Times -
Los Angeles, Calif. Author:
Mindy Farabee Date:
Mar 27, 2008 And the three-day
festival of solo works doesn't lack for lighter amusements either,
according to co-founder and executive producer Adilah Barnes. There's
Juliette Jeffers' online dating adventures in "Looking 4 a
Chocolate Match.com" and spoken word poetry by the Lindz, who,
Barnes says, riffs on the most commonplace subjects with an insightful
wit: "What she can
do with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is incredible, just out of
this world," says Barnes. It's this attention
to diversity -- of ages, ethnicities, moods and themes -- that has
helped ensure the festival's longevity as it heads into its 15th
edition, having showcased more than 400 artists over the last decade and
a half. This year will include a Champagne gala to open the festivities
and then five themed programs ("Politically Speaking,"
"Identity," "En Route," "Shades of Love"
and "Uncut") spread over three days. "This is a
milestone year," Barnes notes. People, evidently, have noticed.
After selling out performances in the festival's old Santa Monica home
at the 120-seat Highways Performance Space, "we realized we've got
to think bigger," says Barnes. That's how the festival found itself
setting up shop in the 354-seat main stage of the El Portal Theatre in
North Hollywood's Arts District, which it will stock with its array of
national and international poets, actresses, dancers, storytellers,
performance artists and musicians. It's a select group culled from a
thorough, multi-round screening process. (The festival accepts roughly
one-third of its applicants.) The whole thing
began, Barnes says, as a sort of satellite program of the Women's
Theater Festival in Philadelphia (when it staged a festival at UCLA in
1992). And when the East Coast organization declined to return for
future engagements, Barnes and company picked up where the Philly crew
left off. That, all these years later, L.A.'s festival is still growing,
she sees as testament not just to its female talent, but also the
strength of the local performing arts audience. "They said L.A.
was too schmoozey, too celebrity-driven," recalls Barnes.
"Whenever anyone says that in my presence, I correct them: L.A. is
a theater town." Mindy.Farabee@latimes.com Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. ASIA Journal of Commerce and Culture
Asian American
Artists in 15th Anniversary Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival –
"Onward and Upward!" from March 27th to March 30th at The El
Portal Theatre in North Hollywood. KOREAN/Thursday,
March 27: Julia Cho, playwright of "Durango," "The Piano
Teacher," and "The Winchester House" will be an honoree
at the Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival at the El Portal Theatre in
North Hollywood. Cho will receive the organization's Maverick Award. VIETNAMESE/
Saturday, March 29: Lan Tran performs her "Tale of the Lockpicking
Child," about a young girl during a short spree as a would-be
burglar who stumbles across her father's secret life in this poignant
and darkly humorous story. INDONESIAN/DUTCH
Saturday, March 29: Tamara Rosos is of Indonesian and Dutch extraction,
and the racial mix is central to her piece, "Milkwhite: The Ritual
of Disguise," as a brown woman in a white country (Netherlands).
Originally presented by that country's Zid Theatre, this dance theatre
piece explores the process a woman is going through to find control as
she disguises her personal and cultural identity. ASIAN INDIAN/Sunday,
March 30: Laxmi Chandrasheka performs "Singarevva and the
Palace." This narrative theatre piece depicts the folkloric story
of a rural belle of India exploited by her father, husband and servant. For a complete
schedule and more information about the Festival, please go to
www.lawtf.com Reservations: (866)
811-4111 (Theatermania). Online reservations
will be available at http://www.elportaltheatre.com About LAWT 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.
http://www.asiansinamerica.org/calendar.html March 27-30, 2008,
North Hollywood, CA www.lawtf.com KOREATOWN DAILY
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