ARTS & CULTURE | By Bret Bradigan

Ojai Playwrights Conference Honors Three ‘Cultural Champions’

Beyond the star-gazing and merriment at the Ojai Playwrights Conference’s annual benefit Saturday night, three extraordinary women were honored for their contributions to America’s cultural life.

The OPC gala featured performances from 10 top talents to honor this year’s “cultural champions.” Front row, Charlayne Woodard, Jane Deknatel and Perla Batalla.

Singer and songwriter Perla Batalla, actor and performer Charlayne Woodard, and executive and producer Jane Deknatel were feted at the event which helps fund the two-week intensive workshops in August which make the Ojai Playwrights Conference one of America’s top new works development spaces in the country. The gala took place at the ranch of Judy Ovitz in upper Ojai and featured performances from 10 talented women. Sandra Tsing Loh, Sussan Deyhim, Julie Garnyé, Linda Gehringer, Martha Gonzales, Sharon Lawrence, Tracie Thoms, Lisa Vroman, Michole White and Zakiya Young entertained the group of nearly 300 with songs and monologues and readings.

Batalla herself was joined by her daughter Eva for an inspiring rendition of “Hallejulah.” Batalla spent more than a decade as a backup singer for Leonard Cohen and received his blessing to launch her solo career. She is also working on an original musical inspired by the relationship between Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera called “Blue House,” co-written by David Batteau and Oliver Mayer. Her commitment to honoring her mestiza heritage led to her award for the United Nation’s Earth Charter Award for “extraordinary devotion to social and economic justice” and the Premio Fronterizo Award “for transcening borders to advance healing work in the world.”

Charlayne Woodard is also no stranger to the Ojai Playwrights Conference. She has developed her plays and performed in the workshop and gala over the years, and has won two Obies and been nominated for a Tony. Her four solo plays, “Pretty Fire,” “Neat,” “In Real Life,” and “The Night Watcher,” has all been acclaimed by critics and audiences.

Jane Deknatel was honored for her pioneering work as a female executive in a male-dominated profession, making television films that were innovative and inclusive. During her time at HBO, she was credited with establishing the current and successful model of attracting foreign investors to projects. “At the same time, she directly approached filmmakers — directors, screenwriters and actors — and asked them what films they might want to make, and helped find ways to let major talents realize their dreams,” according to Robert Egan, the OPC’s artistic director.

The conference takes place this year Aug. 5 to Aug. 12 in upper Ojai on the campus of Besant Hill School. About six to eight plays are selected each year from 500 submissions for the intensive two-week, in-residence workshop program. Those plays are then staged as live readings for the “Summer New Works Festival.” Announcements about which plays were selected will be going out by the end of May.