Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival names 2011 honoress

Feb 23, 2011

The Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival will honor four women for their exceptional career and life achievements at its Opening Night Gala on March 24 at The Electric Lodge in Venice. They are listed here alphabeticall:s

Suzanna Guzman will receive the Maverick Award. Born in East L.A., she has emerged as one of the U.S.A.'s most glamorous mezzo-sopranos. Beginning her career as an actor with Bilingual Foundation of the Arts, she shortly thereafter became a member of the Old Globe Theatre Educational Tour. As a musical theatre artist, she performed in Yul Brynner's final tour of "The King and I," and then in the Kennedy Center production of "Carousel." She scored as a National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Competition. She made her operatic debut with the San Diego Opera in 1985 and has performed with that company as a principal artist nearly every season since. She performed with Washington Opera for ten consecutive seasons and as a principal artist with L.A. Opera for over 40 productions, as well as with other companies and opera production all over the world. She hosted the radio program "L.A. Opera Notes" for nine seasons and produced, wrote, and hosted "Sunday Evening Opera" for three seasons. Her one-woman show "Don't Be Afraid, It's Only Opera" has been performed for 200,00 students nationwide. For ten years, she has portrayed the Virgin Mary in the annual holiday pageant of the Latino Theater Company, "La Virgen De Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin."

Velina Hasu Houston will receive the Rainbow Award. She is the astonishingly prolific writer of some thirty plays. Born at sea on her way to America, she is of Japanese, African American, and Blackfoot-Pikuni Native American descent. Her work focuses on the shifting boundaries of identity with regard to gender, culture and ethnicity, informed by her own multicultural background. She is the recipient of a Master's Degree from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, and a Doctorate from USC School of Cinema Arts. A Phi Beta Kappa, she is Professor of Theatre, Director of Dramatic Writing, Associate Dean of Faculty, and Resident Playwright at the School of Theatre of USC, where she founded the graduate playwriting program. She edited the first anthology of plays by Asian American women. Her works have been performed by Playwrights Arena, Negro Ensemble Company, East West Players, Pasadena Playhouse, Theatricum Botanicum, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Asian American Repertory Theatre, Honolulu Theatre For Youth, Jewish Women's Theatre Project, Pasadena Playhouse, the Mark Taper, the Old Globe, the Sacramento Theatre Company, the Manhattan Theatre Club, George Street Playhouse, Theatre of Yugen/Japan Society, and more. She is also a poet, screenwriter and essayist.

Charmaine Jefferson will receive the Integrity Award. Her long career in the arts began with an eight year stint as a professional dancer, later serving as senior dance program specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., and as the Executive Director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She was Deputy and Acting Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Subsequently, she was a director and producer for Disney Entertainment Productions, where she was a show developer for Disney's California Adventure theme park. For the past eight years, she has served as Executive Director of California African American Museum, which includes performing arts in its monthly Target Sundays series. She generously volunteers her time to California Institute of the Arts, Arts For LA, and the California Arts Council, and serves as a co-mentor on L.A. Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner's City Fellows Program.

Joan Benedict Steiger will receive the Eternity Award. She has amassed a remarkable body of work on stage, screen and television. Her roles include the classical and contemporary, the drama and the musical. Her stage credits include "Promises, Promises," "The Beauty Queen of Leenane, "Collected Stories," "The Octette Bridge Club," "The Traveling Lady," "The World Is Made of Glass," "The Mind With the Dirty Man," "Richard III," "Dr. Faustus," "The Dybbuk," and her one-woman show "Queen of Mean," in which she played hotelier Leona Helmsley. Her long television career began in the medium's early days, when she was a member of the original ensemble of "The Steve Allen Show," followed by continuing roles on several daytime dramas and dozens of series guest appearances. Her dozen feature films include starring roles in two pictures opposite her late husband, Rod Steiger.

The awards will be bestowed at the Gala Opening Night of the Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival at The Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Ave., Venice, CA 90291, on March 24 with a reception at 7 p.m. and a show at 8 p.m. with entertainment by performers Ingrid Graham, Monica Hunken and Tia Matza. Tickets for the Gala are $40, or two tickets for $75 (includes light fare and Champagne). Tickets for the weekend's other shows are $20- $25. For a line-up of each program's performers, go to http://www.lawtf.com or call (818) 760-0408.