East West Players (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Biography

The East West Players theater company (EWP), located in Los Angeles, CA, was founded in 1965. EWP provides Asian Pacific actors, writers, directors, and producers a forum for presenting their unique works from an Asian-Pacific-American perspective, with productions ranging from traditional Asian theater forms to the Asian American experience to mainstream drama and musical theater. The founders of EWP include artistic directors Mako, Rae Creevey, James Hong, June K. Lu, Guy Lee, Pat Li, Yet Lock, Soon-Tek Oh, and Beulah Quo. EWP's second artistic director, Nobu McCarthy, who served from 1989 to 1993, encourged the participation and inclusion of non-Asian actors in the theater group. The third and current artistic director, Tim Dang, started his appointment in 1993.

As the first Asian American theater company in the United States, the foundation of EWP was a response to the lack of roles, especially authentic ones, for Asian American actors. Its original purpose statement indicated that "The East West Players departed somewhat from all the traditional Hollywood formulas, for the company shaped new and compelling images of its own and addressed a variety of problems connected with the Asian/Pacific American community and the art of theater."

Rashomon, the first production of EWP premiered on April 3, 1965 at the University of Southern California. During it's early years, the company staged Asian and European classics, and rehearsed and held workshops at Bethany Presbyterian Church while searching for potential Asian American playwrights. In 1972, EWP moved to 4424 Santa Monica Boulevard, where it began its children's theatre tours and provided a base to stage original works by artistic talents such as Wakako Yamauchi, Momoko Iko, Dom Magwili, Jon Shirota, and Perry Miyake Jr.

EWP expanded its outreach to immigrant communities with bilingual tours and musical theatre following the success of the production Pacific Overtures. EWP relocated in 1998 to the former site of Union Church in the Los Angeles neighborhood known as Little Tokyo where it still resides.

From the guide to the East West Players Records, 1965-1992, (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Performing Arts Special Collections.)