KRISTINA WONG, #FOOD BANK INFLUENCER and More Set for East West Players 61st Season

East West Players will launch its 61st season by centering female, queer, and marginalized voices, both onstage and off. The mainstage season opens with the Southern California premiere of the uproarious comedy WIVES by Jaclyn Backhaus, directed by Arpita Mukherjee. Next up is the Los Angeles premiere of Kristina Wong, #FOOD BANK INFLUENCER, a sharp and witty new work from Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristina Wong, directed by Jessica Hanna. In May 2027, EWP presents the NEW WORKS FESTIVAL, where Los Angeles audiences will be among the first to hear public, in-process presentations of REDPOINT MY HEART by Amanda L. Andrei, SOFT MAGICAL TOFU BOY(S) by Kevin Y. Wong, and a new play developed in collaboration with Baltimore Center Stage and Breaking the Binary’s Trans History Project, to be announced. From open rehearsals and public readings to artist conversations and community events, the New Works Festival will bring our community closer to the heart of the theatrical development process.

EWP is also challenging the way audiences access theater. This season, single tickets for every show are available on a Pay-What-You-Will basis, with tiered pricing designed to welcome everyone. EWP is also launching the Emerging Artist Membership, a free program for theatergoers ages 18–35, which guarantees $20 orchestra seats for them and a guest of any age. By lowering barriers and investing in the next generation, EWP is opening its doors wider than ever. 
 

WIVES

At a moment when marginalized voices are changing the national conversation, Jaclyn Backhaus’s WIVES feels both sharply relevant and deeply funny. Centering on a primarily South Asian and South Asian American cast, and directed by Hypokrit Live Arts NYC Co-Founder and Artistic Director Arpita Mukherjee, this comedy sweeps audiences from 16th-century France to 1920s India and 1960s Idaho; offering witty, moving glimpses at history’s so-called great men, as seen through the women at their sides. The story lands with extra resonance in 2026, coming on the heels of the 2024 national election that elevated the first South Asian American woman presidential candidate and first South Asian American second lady, and arriving alongside Los Angeles’s own mayoral race, where South Asian city councilmember Nithya Raman surged through the primary to clinch a spot on the November ballot. WIVES doesn’t just retell history, it upends it; revealing history as a tapestry woven by many hands, not just the few who usually claim the spotlight.  
 
“This play offers its actors the opportunity to time travel, to play many characters, and to ultimately ask the question of what it means to be able to be fully seen for who they are, rather than who society supposes them to be,” says playwright Jaclyn Backhaus. “It is a play about how women might support each other in a world run by tyrant men, a play about how community is built by sharing abundance in the face of scarcity.”
 
Backhaus, a playwright, screenwriter, and educator from Phoenix, Arizona, is known for acclaimed works including OUT OF TIME, INDIA PALE ALE, MEN ON BOATS, and YOU ON THE MOORS NOW. Her plays have premiered at Playwrights Horizons and major theaters across the US. She is a New Dramatists resident playwright, a core member of The Kilroys, and co-founder of Fresh Ground Pepper NYC. WIVES had its world premiere Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in September 2019.

Kristina Wong, #Food Bank Influencer 

Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristina Wong brings her signature irreverence to the American musical—this time, through the lens of our nation’s emergency food system. Based on her experiences with food distribution from New York to the Navajo Nation, Kristina Wong #FOOD BANK INFLUENCER offers biting, hilarious commentary on food insecurity and America’s obsession with giving (and receiving) free food. How will she make you laugh about hunger? It’s a SNAP! (That’s the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.)

Kristina Wong #FOOD BANK INFLUENCER is written and performed by Kristina Wong and directed by Outside In Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director Jessica Hanna. Come for the performance, stay for the free supplemental groceries available after every show! 
 

EWP’s New Works Festival

EWP will present the NEW WORKS FESTIVAL, a new bi-annual festival of new theatrical work that will bring the Los Angeles community to the heart of Little Tokyo and champion the plays and musicals that will shape the future of the Asian American canon.

“Every play and musical that we think of today as ‘canonical’ was once a new work that needed artists and audiences to take a chance on it,” says Associate Artistic Director Annie Jin Wang, “We’re hopeful that this New Works Festival will grow to be a gathering space where artistic projects can take a meaningful leap forward in their development while connecting with those in our community who are most excited to expand their horizons for what Asian American theatre can be.”

Among the projects curated for the inaugural festival will be REDPOINT MY HEART by Amanda L. Andrei, the recipient of the Open Call Commission for a new sports play, which will have its world premiere at EWP alongside the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Andrei’s play, REDPOINT MY HEART, is a romantic comedy about a community of Asian American rock climbers who support and compete with themselves and one another–and, just maybe, find ways to come together along the way.
  
Additional presentations will include a concert reading of Chinese Canadian musical theatre composer and lyricist Kevin Y. Wong’s queer, genre-bending musical SOFT MAGICAL TOFU BOY(S) and a new play presented in collaboration with Baltimore Center Stage and Breaking The Binary. SOFT MAGICAL TOFU BOY(S) utilizes a distinct and heartfelt pop sound to tell the story of three brothers who have a unique (and seemingly useless) magical power: they can make drawings in the air come to life. SOFT MAGICAL TOFU BOY(S) received previous development through the O’Neill Center’s National Musical Theatre Conference and the National Alliance for Music Theatre (NAMT)’s Festival of New Musicals. This presentation will mark Wong’s west coast debut.
 
East West Players will also take part in Cohort 2 of Baltimore Center Stage and Breaking the Binary’s Trans History Project. Over the next two years, EWP will support the development of a new play or musical by an Asian American, Pacific Islander, or Native Hawai’ian trans or gender non-conforming writer telling a story that illuminates the history of gender non-conforming individuals or culture before our time. The process of selecting the writer to be in residence remains in progress.
 
A celebration for the process-curious, the New Works Festival will include developmental workshops for artistic teams that will culminate in public presentations and community programming. This will be an ideal opportunity to get a first glimpse at works-in-progress, meet rising artists, learn more about the new work development process, and to be in conversation with East West Players about our future programming.

 
Theatre for Youth 2026–27 Tour 

This fall, EWP Arts Education launches its annual Theatre for Youth tour, commissioning new plays about notable Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) figures in response to studies showing that many Americans cannot name a prominent AAPI historical figure. Last year’s production, Elizabeth Wong’s TAM TRAN GOES TO WASHINGTON, told the true story of activist Tam Tran’s testimony before Congress on behalf of the DREAM Act.

Returning for 2026–27 is WHEN YURI MET MALCOLM by Rosie Narasaki, first commissioned by EWP in 2022. The play explores the legacy of Yuri Kochiyama through her friendship with Malcolm X, tracing her journey from Japanese American incarceration camps to a lifetime of activism. What does it mean to be a citizen of a flawed country, and how much can one person do to change it? The 2026-2027 production will be directed by Khalif J. Gillett.
Public performances of Theatre for Youth are free and open to all. For dates and details, visit eastwestplayers.org. Schools, libraries, and community organizations interested in booking the show can contact Arts Education Director Jade Cagalawan at jcagalawan@eastwestplayers.org.

Special Events:

CRAZY TALENTED ASIANS: Nisei Week

The 61st season kicks off in August as East West Players, AJ Rafael, and the Nisei Week Foundationreunite for CRAZY TALENTED ASIANS: NISEI WEEK, a special concert during the Nisei Week Japanese Festival in historic Little Tokyo. Hosted by Rafael, the event brings together established and emerging Asian American performers, many with ties to the East West Players community. The event will honor the career of Filipino-American actor and singer Jon Jon Briones (MISS SAIGON on the West End & Broadway, most recently PACIFIC OVERTURES at EWP).
 
This year’s lineup features: Deedee Magno Hall, known for her roles as Kim in the MISS SAIGON National Tour, the voice of Pearl on Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe, and Diana Goodman in NEXT TO NORMAL at EWP; dynamic vocal group grlhood featuring Justine Rafael (HERE LIES LOVE at the Mark Taper Forum, ON THIS SIDE OF THE WORLD at EWP), Kay Sibal (SIX on Broadway), and Leianna Weaver (BEETLEJUICE National Tour) whose members met performing in SPRING AWAKENING at EWP; Zandi de Jesus (HERE LIES LOVE at the Mark Taper Forum, ON THIS SIDE OF THE WORLD and CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND at EWP); Scott Keiji Takeda (most recently Ta in EWP’s FLOWER DRUM SONG); Alyssa Rafael (Belle in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at the Nocturne Theatre); Kenton Chen (most recently Harvard in EWP’s FLOWER DRUM SONG). More acts to be announced soon. 
 
The night highlights the creativity and sense of belonging that defines AAPI artistry, offering a meaningful showcase of voices shaping the global future of performing arts. Tickets go on sale in July 2026.
 

CRIERS FOR HIRE: 10th Anniversary Reading at the Curtis Theatre

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