Kathy Hsieh to Receive Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award

Theatre Puget Sound (TPS) and the Gregory Awards announce today that Award-Winning Actress, Director, Producer, Activist, and Educator Kathy Hsieh will be recognized for her many contributions to the Seattle theatre community.

In addition to her personal work in theatre, Hsieh is a leading voice in creating visibility and community for artists of color while inspiring local arts and cultural organizations to work together towards a more inclusive and equitable creative sector.

She will be the 20th Recipient of the Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award at the 9th Annual Gregory Awards, taking place October 23rd, 2017 at McCaw Hall, hosted by Justin Huertas and Sara Porkalob .

About Kathy Hsieh An award-winning actor, writer, director, and producer, Kathy Hsieh has worked on hundreds of productions with theatre companies throughout the region. Her scripts have been presented in Seattle; Vancouver, B.C; Chicago and Minneapolis.

She has been honored by the National Association of Asian American Professionals (2003), ArtsFund (2003), The Dramatist Magazine's "50 to Watch" (2007), Verizon's Asian Pacific American Bash's Innovator Award (2012), International Examiner Community Voice Awardee (2015), among others. Her writing has been recognized nationally, most notably by New York's New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest in 2007.

She is the Cultural Partnerships and Grants Manager for the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. A change agent in transforming the Office's community engagement and arts funding practices through a racial equity lens, she helped the agency earn the Seattle Management Association's first Race & Social Justice Management Award. She is also a Co-Executive Producer for SIS Productions which aims to create and provide opportunities and visibility for Asian American women in theatre.
About the Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award The Gregory Awards are named in honor of Gregory A. Falls, a former chair of the UW School of Drama, who is credited with creating Seattle's vibrant theater scene. Falls died unexpectedly of pneumonia at age 75 on April 3, 1997.

More than any other individual, Falls was "most responsible for the theater boom in this town," said Arne Zaslove, former artistic director of the Bathhouse Theatre at Green Lake. "He was the impresario of bringing it all together."

Falls founded one of Seattle's mainstays, ACT - A Contemporary Theatre (link is external), more than three decades ago. He was ACT's artistic director for 23 years until his retirement in 1987 due to early indications of Alzheimer's disease.
TPS gratefully acknowledges Jean Burch Falls for her contributions and continued support in honoring those that shape our theatrical landscape.

Theatre Puget Sound (TPS) is a leadership and service organization founded in 1997 to advocate for the region's growing theatre community's causes and administer much-needed services. TPS is now the Northwest's premiere arts advocacy and leadership organization, providing programming and services that benefit both the theatre community and the larger regional arts community. Among the many resources available, TPS is responsible for producing the Gregory Awards and the Unified General auditions each year.