JOSEFINA LOPEZ to Deliver Commencement Address at Los Angeles High School for the Arts' 2013 Graduation

JOSEFINA LOPEZ, the award-winning playwright and screenwriter, best known as the creator of the play and the film, "Real Women Have Curves," will deliver the Commencement Address at Los Angeles High School for the Arts' (LACHSA's) 2013 Graduation Ceremony at Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012 on Friday, June 7, 2013, starting at2:00 p.m., it was announced today by LACHSA Principal George Simpson. The graduation will feature many LACHSA performing arts groups and is open to the general public to attend.

George Simpson said: "As a distinguished alumna of the first graduating class at LACHSA in 1987, we are honored to have Josefina López deliver the Commencement Address to our 2013 graduating class. Josefina's distinguished career as an award-winning and critically acclaimed playwright and screenwriter serve as an inspiration to our graduates of what can be accomplished with talent and hard work. In fact, on the eve of our graduation day, June 7th, Josefina López will be attending the World Premiere performance on her newest play, 'Hungry Woman,' an abridged adaptation of her novel, 'Hungry Woman in Paris,' to be presented at Casa 0101 Theater in Boyle Heights, CA throughout the month of June."

Josefina López said; "It is a great privilege for me to be invited to address the 2013 LACHSA graduating class. It is with great fondness that I remember my days as a graduate of the 1987 LACHSA class, at which time my teachers instilled in me the confidence to believe in myself and my talents as a writer, establishing the firm foundation which led me to where I am today. I am very grateful for the opportunities I have been given since graduating from LACHSA. I plan to pass along to this year's graduating class things I have learned along the way, which I hope will be useful to them as they set out to conquer their own dreams and aspirations."

Performance Groups which will be on the program during the LACHSA Graduation Commencement on June 7th include: the cast of LACHSA's production of the musical, "Cabaret," which includes seniors in the Musical Theatre Department, LACHSA Symphony Orchestra, LACHSA's award-winning Jazz Band, LACHSA Opera, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Gospel Choir, LACHSA Dancers from the Senior Class, LACHSA Theatre from the Senior Class and the Cinematic Art and Visual Arts Departments.

Tickets for the LACHSA Graduation Commencement are $25, $35 and $55, depending on where you are seated. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.itsmyseat.com/LACHSA/ or via E-mail at lachsaboxoffice@gmail.com.

Josefina López, LACHSA Class of 1987, is one of today's preeminent Chicana writers, with over 100 productions of her plays produced throughout the United States including "Simply Maria, Or the American Dream," "Confessions of Women From East L.A.," "Boyle Heights," "Lola Goes To Roma," "Food For The Dead, " "Unconquered Spirits," "Queen of the Rumba," "Detained in the Desert," "Trío Los Machos"and "Real Women Have Curves." She is the co-screenwriter of the film version of her play "Real Women Have Curves," starring America Ferrara("Ugly Betty") and Lupe Ontiveros ("Desperate Housewives," "Selena"). Her latest play is "Hungry Woman," an abridged adaptation of her first novel, "Hungry Woman in Paris." López is the recipient of a number of other awards and accolades, including a formal recognition from U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer's 7th Annual "Women Making History" banquet in 1998 and a screenwriting fellowship from the California Arts Council in 2001. She and "Real Women Have Curves" film co-author George LaVoo won the Humanitas Prize for Screenwriting in 2002. López has also received The Gabriel Garcia Marquez Award from Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn in 2003 and the Artist-in-ResidenCy Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group for 2007. A pioneer in promoting Latinas in the arts, Josefina López created the Lupe Ontiveros Memorial Scholarship to preserve the legacy of Latinas in Theatre.

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