East West Players nears completion of new theatre

Just six or seven months ago, East West Players, the nation's oldest Asian American theatre, was in frail economic health. With energy focussed almost entirely on completing a new theatre space, other matters slid; general fundraising had dropped, forcing layoffs of staff. A large pledge did not come through for the theatre space, forcing reorganization of fundraising plans and general operations.

However, in early 1998, things have apparently turned around for East West, as a renewed focus on fundraising has brought in not only the required $1 million plus, but an additional $200,000 to build the new state of the art David Henry Hwang Theatre. Completion is set for March 3, 1998, just in time for the revival of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures, and just a handful of months behind the original, projected completion date.

With this new space of 245 seats, East West graduates from the small level theatres (previous East West capacity of 99) into the mid-level category of theatres in Southern California. This allows them to join a well respected set of theatres, but also means that East West will be offering modified Equity (the actors' union for stage) contracts on a regular basis for the first time. This means larger budgets and increased costs, but it also means a fighting chance for Asian American theatre artists in southern California to make a decent wage.

For more information on East West's new space and their upcoming season, chock full of original plays and musicals, call EWP at 213-625-7000, or write PR Director Suzanne Hee at their office at 244 South San Pedro St., Ste. 301, Los Angeles, CA 90012. There are plans for a new e-mail address to go along with a new web site; while the web site is up, the e-mail address is not quite ready...

[A&E Program Guide] [Home] [ABC Info] [E-mail]