The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival will take place March 27 to March 30 with the overall theme of the festival this year being STRONGER TOGETHER. This year marks the theatre festival’s 32 years of producing over 700 extraordinary multicultural and multidisciplinary solo performers from around the globe.
But particularly on March 28, the Opening Night Gala will be hosted by Ted Lange (The Love Boat) and Margaret Avery (The original The Color Purple) with the event titled A Toast To honoring six deserving women of exceptional achievement and contribution to the world of theatre. They are:
MITZI GAYNOR and NANCY CHERYLL DAVIS BELLAMY – Infinity Award
Presented to an artist who has passed on and leaves behind a legacy that will always be remembered.
MITZI GAYNOR – For eight decades, the Emmy® Award-winning actress, dancer, singer, writer, Mitzi Gaynor, sang and danced her way through a multifaceted career in entertainment. Her career was celebrated in film, television, and performing arts centers throughout the U.S. and Canada, including the renowned movie musicals There’s No Business Like Show Business, Anything Goes, and her signature performance as Ensign Nellie Forbush in South Pacific.
Mitzi pioneered the original character-driven Broadway-style stage show — an innovative fast-paced show featuring an ensemble of singers and dancers with a movie-star performer at its focal point. Mitzi later incorporated elements of her stage shows on television, in which her show received a total of 17 primetime Emmy nominations and 6 Emmy Awards. Her documentary, Mitzi Gaynor: Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years, won a New York NATAS Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Special.
In recent years, Mitzi was inducted into the The Great American Songbook Hall of Fame and presented with the Entertainment Community Fund’s Medal of Honor for her charitable work.
NANCY CHERYLL DAVIS BELLAMY – Nancy was born and raised just outside of Detroit. She attended ACT in San Francisco, then moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of acting. During 1993, after the LA Riots when the city was working to heal, she co-founded the Towne Street Theatre with her husband, Nathaniel Bellamy, and her dear friend, Nancy Renee. As an African American woman determined to make a difference through her art, Nancy’s varied background and challenges in her own career contributed largely to the positive can-do spirit and the life of Towne Street. Nancy was an actor and director who received many awards and nominations. She was most proud of the work she did with the show Passing (adapted from Nella Larsen’s 1927 novella) and her adaptation into the solo show PassingSOLO, which is published in the anthology black/woman/solo. One of the many legacies that she leaves behind is being a mentor to hundreds of young actors. The message she gave to every actor she worked with was to “make your own creative evolution.” She was adamant that actors were actors, regardless of race or gender.
DAWN DIDAWICK – Eternity Award
Presented to an artist or individual whose lifetime achievements have made a lasting contribution to the world of theatre
DAWN DIDAWICK – Our 2025 Eternity Award recipient is often described as a “veteran Actor with good reason. Since the mid-sixties her body of work has included everything from children’s theater tours to schools and mental facilities to making films for the USIA. Her career began in Washington D.C. where she appeared in plays by Beckett, Pinter, Williams and Chekov. Dawn’s theatre credits range from Broadway in the Tony Award winning revival of All My Sons, starring Richard Kiley, many off Broadway productions such as Marsha Norman’s Trudy Blue and The Laundromat, to an acclaimed production of The Tempest, adapted and directed by Teller and Aaron Posner, where she played Gonzala.
Dawn Didawick has been a friend of LAWTF since appearing in Erin Brockovich with Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, and Adilah Barnes, to name a few of the amazing cast directed by Stephen Soderbergh. Dawn’s long haul artistic life has given her the opportunity to work with and learn from many of the best actors, directors, artists and technical staff in all areas of the business including theater, film, T.V. and commercials. She pursued her passion for the development of new works for many years with The Colony in Missoula, Montana and The Gathering in Big Fork as well as her commitment to the classics by serving multiple years on The Board of The Antaeus Company, where she is an original member.
JUANITA JENNINGS – Integrity Award
Presented to an artist or individual who has brought credibility and dignity to her work.
JUANITA JENNINGS won the 1994 CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries for her role in HBO’s Laurel Avenue. She started her professional career with Broadway Touring Co., Vinnette Carrol’s Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope. Upon completion of her studies at Boston University, she moved to NYC in the ‘70s, and became a member of the Negro Ensemble Company. While there for 10 years, she worked with various theaters, became the first Black Contract Player on As the World Turns. Moving to Los Angeles in ‘85, her entree into the world of Film & Television began. But her love for theater remained, and she’s worked in some of the major theaters throughout Greater Los Angeles are, and around the country. Also noted, in 2000 Juanita was awarded the NAACP Theater Award for Best Actress in her performance in August Wilson’s King Headley II.
ELISA BOCANEGRA – Maverick Award
Presented to an artist or individual whose work has set a high standard of individuality and self-styled creativity.
ELISA BOCANEGRA is a Puerto Rican actress, director, producer, activist, & Founder/Producing Artistic Director of HERO Theatre in Los Angeles. Elisa also started Teatro Héroe in Bogotá to present plays and workshops to communities in Colombia.
Mentored by Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors and named as a “Latino Power Player in Hollywood” by the L.A. Times, Elisa is a prestigious Fulbright Awardee, and recipient of the esteemed TCG Leadership U Grantand. As a Fulbright researcher/invited scholar at Instituto Humboldt (Colombia) for two years, she developed the acclaimed NUESTRO PLANETA, her multimedia project that brings sustainability education to Latine peoples through theatre/film.
Elisa has performed at major theaters, including The Roundabout Theatre Company in NY. Her first film, Girlfight, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film at The Sundance Film Festival. Currently, Elisa recurs on Season 2 of Peacock TV’s Based on a True Story. Her stage directing credits include the critically acclaimed LUZMI, NOTHING, NOTHING, and TROY.
JULI KIM – Rainbow Award
Bestowed on an artist or individual for her diverse contributions in fostering non-traditional and multicultural theatre works.
JULI KIM’s Korean classical/fusion work has been described as “both powerful and poetic in an improvised form based on rigorous training.” Her most notable work is the production of the Friendship Concerts series, commemorating the LA Riots and promoting unity in diversity.
Kim’s works have been performed at San Francisco Ethnic Palace of Fine Art Theatre, Pyung Chang Olympic Festival, Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival, and Get Empowered movement series, among others. In 2015, Kim received the highest prize at the Los Angeles Annual Korean Gukak Competition and was subsequently invited to perform at numerous prestigious concert halls in Korea. Most recently, Kim received two awards for her dance/music film, New Leaf.
Kim is devoted to spreading awareness of Korean culture. She founded The Artists’ Platform, a non-profit organization that seeks to empower artists by providing them with a platform for their work. Kim has taught Korean Dance classes and collaborated with dance companies including Dancecorp, Lula Washington Dance Theatre, and The Latino Dance Project.
There are also performances by dancer Vannia Ibarguen, vocalist Karen A. Clark, and dancer Ashley Gayle. To purchase tickets for the gala, you can get them here. For more info on the rest of the festival, check them out here.