East West Players' CRIMES OF THE HEART Opens 11/4

East West Players (EWP), the nation's premier Asian American theatre, continues its 45th Anniversary season, themed Shake It Up, with the Pulitzer Prize-winning play CRIMES OF THE HEART by Beth Henley. This production will be directed by Leslie Ishii. The cast of the production includes Maya Erskine, Kimiko Gelman, Elizabeth Liang, Hiwa Bourne, Tim Chiou, and Jason Sino.
In CRIMES OF THE HEART we meet three delightfully dysfunctional sisters: Babe has just shot her husband, Meg is fresh from the loony bin, and Lenny celebrates her birthday alone by sticking a candle in a cookie. This Southern classic with an Asian American cast will be an unforgettable night of laughter and tears in East West Players style.

"East West Players' tradition of taking a classic play and casting it with an all Asian cast shows three vital objectives of our mission," says EWP producing Artistic Director Tim Dang. "We give opportunities to APA actors who would not normally be cast in these roles, we enlighten audiences of the universal themes and the specific cultural responses of the APA community, and most of all, we shatter stereotypes-Asians do live in the South, Asians do speak with Southern accents and Asians historically have been part of the American landscape for well over a century."

Beth Henley's (Playwright) plays have been produced internationally and translated into over ten languages. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play for CRIMES OF THE HEART. Other awards include: American Theatre Wing 1998 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Playwrighting; Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist for CRIMES OF THE HEART and RIDICULOUS FRAUD; Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award 2000, New York Stage and Film Honoree, 2007. Ms. Henley's newest work THE JACKSONIAN had a staged reading at New York Stage and Film. Jonathan Demme directed her play FAMILY WEEK at MCC this spring. Ms. Henley has the honor of serving as Theatre Arts Presidential Professor at LMU, Los Angeles. She is a board member of The Fellowship of Southern Writers and serves on Pen/Faulkner's Writer's Advisory Council.

Leslie Ishii (Director) has created and taught acting and voice curriculum for artists for 17 years at East West Players. She directed six of EWP's Studio Lab Projects and DAWN'S LIGHT: THE JOURNEY OF GORDON HIRABAYASHI for their Theatre for Youth educational tour. Leslie also directed Julia Cho's POST-IT in the Thumping Claw Asian American Playwright Festival, and NYC Japanese American Day of Remembrance performance programs, poetry festivals, and PEELING THE BANANA, an Asian men's piece within a new works festival all at The Joseph Papp Public Theatre. She works for Center Theater Group's Young Audiences Program and is a Fitzmaurice Voicework Associate presenting workshops in Mexico City, Spain, Budapest, and Austria.

The design team consists of set designer Shigeru Yaji, lighting designer Lonnie Alcarez, costumer designer Garry Lennon, sound designer Peter Erskine and property master Ken Takemoto. The stage manager is Daniel Reano Koven.

CRIMES OF THE HEART is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Generous support for this production is provided by the California Community Foundation, Shubert Foundation, The LA Board of Supervisors through the LA County Arts Commission, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.

All performances of CRIMES OF THE HEART will be staged at the David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts at 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. CRIMES OF THE HEART opens Wednesday, November 10, 2010 and closes on Sunday, December 5, 2010. Opening night will be accompanied by a pre-performance cocktail reception and a post show reception with the cast and creative team sponsored by Southern California Edison. Performances are Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. Previews are Thursday - Saturday, November 4 - November 6 at 8pm and Sunday, November 7 at 2pm. The Pay-What-You-Can Performance will be held Wednesday, November 24 at 8 pm with a suggested $5 minimum donation.

General Tickets range from $35 - $45. Preview tickets are $20 for all seats. Opening night tickets are $65 for all seats. Tickets are currently on sale. For ticket purchases or more information, please call East West Players at (213) 625-7000 or visit www.eastwestplayers.org. Senior, student and group discounts are available.

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