TRANS/FIGURATIONS SPRING 2008 Reading Series Eleven New Works In Progress from the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute at East West Players At the David Henry Hwang Theater 120 North Judge John Aiso Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 $5 Suggested Donation

SATURDAY, June 28 @ 1pm THE NIGHT REHEARSAL By Steven Tran Directed by Suzanne Karpinski Till intends his new play to shake up the establishment. His ingredients: a night rehearsal, a young lady, his midlife woes and the Bogeyman. Will he reach the pinnacle of his art in one night? SATURDAY, June 28 @ 4pm TIME AFTER TIME: A CATALOG OF TRAUMATIC EVENTS By D Hideo Maruyama Directed by Ann-Giselle Spiegler The world composed of snapshot after snapshot of small and global tragedies that make up daily life; it's a series of photographs in words: how daughters can become fathers of men. SATURDAY, June 28 @ 6pm NEW YEARS PLAY By Howard Ho Directed by Prince Gomolvilas 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...Now. We are dealt the hand with which we are born. What will your resolution be? A tale of memories, fantasies, astrologies, and computer science majors. SUNDAY, June 29 @ 1pm MYOPIA By Rima Anosa Directed by Benjamin Pohlmeier "Love may be blind, but it sure isn't color blind." THE RUSTY NAIL COMPETITION By Lia Tu Directed by Kipp Shiotani "What if I told you I could make this nail worth hundreds of dollars? You'd think I was crazy. Well, you would be right. I can actually make it worth even more, thousands of dollars." Questions? Contact Literary Manager Jeff Liu at JLiu@EastWestPlayers. org The David Henry Hwang Writers Institute is supported in part by the James Irvine Foundation.

SUNDAY, June 29 @ 4pm NOVENAS By Vanessa Tamayo Directed by Michael Henry The Manong generation is dying, and prayers for the dead seem to line up night after night. Set against the droll rituals of mourning, a daughter returns to care for her dying father in the community that she destroyed. LITO LOVES BUCK By Jennifer Almiron Directed by Darrell Kunitomi The sun sets, night presses in-and two boys miss the bus home from Model U.N. In the "crackle-pop" of a night in the wilderness, the boys rise to the challenge of darkness. And war games, gunshots, and strange preteen urges go bump in the night. SUNDAY, June 29 @ 7pm CONVERSATIONS WITH SASQUATCH By Carmen Balas Directed by Kelvin Han Yee Bob is not your average tourist. When Bigfoot meets the Big City, expectations implode and worldviews shatter.Which raises the question: What is human? MONDAY, June 30 @ 7:30pm MONSTERS IN THE CLOSET By Elizabeth Mitsunaga Directed by Cindy Marie Jenkins What happens when you're re-introduced to the childhood monsters that lurked in your closet? Are they just silly "boogie-men" or perhaps something even more frightening? Come see if you recognize some of them for yourself. FIXTURES AT AN EXHIBITION By Gary Kuwahara Directed by Alberto Isaac Old people can haz sex. Fo' shizzel. DOGGY STYLE By Gary Kuwahara Directed by Alberto Isaac When you treat people like dogs, sometimes they bite back. Well, they're dogs...they do doggy things.

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About the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute

In 1991, playwright David Henry Hwang (F.O.B., THE DANCE AND THE RAIL ROAD, M. BUTTERFLY) and East West Players joined together to create the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute. The Institute provides a series of writing classes designed to foster new writing for the stage. It is a nationally recognized force in the creation of plays that embrace the voice of a multi-ethnic America. We as a multicultural community need to speak out , tell the world who we are, where we came from, and most importantly where we are going. In doing this, we affirm the legacy of our individual and shared histories in America. The Institute is administered by East West Players Literary Manager, Judy Soo Hoo. Instructors have included Paula Cizmar, Alice Tuan, Kelly Stuart, Amy Hill, Elizabeth Wong, Silas Jones, Rick Shiomi, Peter Sagal, Chay Yew and Brian Nelson, a founder of the Institute. Guest lecturers include writers such as Philip Gotanda, Wakako Yamauchi, Chay Yew, Amy Hill, Desmond Nakano, and David Henry Hwang himself. One-act and full-length plays of all genres are produced by writers in the Institute, and each session of classes culminates in public readings of these works by EWP actors. Countless works by writers of the Institute have been read and produced by theatres around the country; Institute writers have won awards and fellowships. Among them:

John Cho (L) and Leilani Murakami (R) in My Tired Broke Ass Pontificating slapstick Funk. Photo by Michael Lamont.

Euijoon Kim’s MY TIRED BROKE ASS PONTIFICATING SLAPSTICK FUNK world-premiered on East West Player’s David Henry Hwang mainstage as part of its 1999-2000 Season. His KARAOKE STORIES was one of the winners of EWP’s New Voices Playwriting Competition. Contact: euijoon_kim@newline.com

Judy Soo Hoo’s TEXAS world-premiered at Lodestone SHP; her REFRIGERATORS was one of the winners of EWP’s New Voices Playwriting Competition (and will open at Lodestone SHP in the Spring of 2002), her TWICE TOLD CHRISTMAS TALES was produced at East West Players, as well as her contributions to 29 1/2 DREAMS. She was also a winner in the 1999 Yukon New Plays Contest, and was a 1999 PEN West Fellow. Contact: judysh@ucla.edu

Sujata Bhatt's QUEEN OF THE REMOTE CONTROL was read at the Lark Theatre in New York, at AATC in San Francisco. Contact: ebik@attbi.com

Jason Fong's FENTOR and A NICKEL'S WORTH played in repertory in hereandnow's swan song at ELAC during the summer of 2001.

Dennis Escobedo’s POET OF COLUMBUS AVENUE world-premiered at Pan Asian Rep in New York. Contact: dennisescobedo@hotmail.com

Lucy Kim’s LEON AND CLARK world-premiered at Playwright’s Arena. Contact: pigggylu@aol.com

Daniel Cariaga’s SLEEPWALK was workshopped at ASK’s 1999 Fall Festival and world-premiered at Playwright’s Arena. Contact: danielcariaga@earthlink.net

Annette Lee’s ...THIS CUL DE SAC was produced at Lodestone in Spring, 2001.

John Song’s DREAMS OF MY FATHER’S MUSIC was a New Voices Playwriting Competition winner, as well as a winner in the C.Y. Lee Playwriting Contest. He was a 1997 PEN West Fellow. Contact: jsong@kingseal.com

Noel Alumit’s THE RICE ROOM has played at venues all over California and other parts of the U.S. He was a 1998 PEN West Fellow.

Mark Jue’s CHINATOWN CORRESPONDENT was a winner in the C.Y. Lee Playwriting Contest.

Tim Toyama’s VISAS AND VIRTUES was adapted into an Academy Award®-winning short film.

Garrett H. Omata’s S.A.M. I AM world-premiered at EWP before going on to productions in Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, San Diego, Sacramento and beyond. His MYSTERY PLAY was produced in Long Beach.

Denise Uyehara’s HIRO was presented at East West Players as part of AT&T’s OnStage program.

Soji Kashiwagi’s THE GRAPEVINE was produced at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Ken Narasaki’s GHOSTS AND BAGGAGE was produced at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

(The David Henry Hwang Writers Institute has been made possible through the generosity of The James Irvine Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.)

Meera Simhan and Poorna Jagannathan in East West Players 2002 production of QUEEN OF THE REMOTE CONTROL by Sujata G. Bhatt. Photo by Michael Lamont.

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About the Writers Gallery