The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival (LAWTF) was founded by solo artist Adilah Barnes and Miriam Reed who met at a California Arts Council Touring Roster Conference in Pasadena in 1993.

At the conclusion of that weekend conference, all participants were asked to convene for a closing.  During announcements, it was Miriam Reed who suggested to Adilah Barnes that they make an announcement requesting all solo artists to join them in the rear of the room following the conference to determine how they might collectively support each other

Adilah and Miriam were bombarded with solo artists of diverse disciplines (including actors, dancers, story tellers, performance artists, performance poets, sculptors and comedians).

Helene McCardle offered a meeting space at the Burbank Little Theatre.  By the end of the meeting the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival was born.            

The founding circle includes Adilah Barnes, Joyce Guy, Judith Heineman, Nina Kaufman, Helene McCardle, Miriam Reed and Phylise Smith

LAWTF was inspired by the Women's Theatre Festival in Philadelphia that had created the National Women's Theatre Festival satellite in Los Angeles in 1992 at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).  In 1993, LAWTF picked up the torch and continued the vision that had been planted by the Women’s Theater Festival in Los Angeles.