Griffin commendation + Sitting in at East West Players

It’s morning time in Melbourne but afternoon in Little Tokyo, LA. I’ve been in LA now for two and a bit days, and have adjusted fairly well to the time difference. My main purpose of coming to LA was as part of my Arts Start grant, which more specifically involves me connecting with Asian-American theatre artists and companies. My first stop is East West Players, who’ve been around for about 50 years and are probably the biggest Asian theater company in the western world. The artistic director has been with the company for over 30 years!!!

The company does four shows a year, usually for month-long seasons. They usually do three new works, plus one existing work. I’m here in time for the preview week of Chess. I know basically nothing about this musical, except that there are chess players in it and a song called ‘One night in Bangkok’.

I’m also having dinner tomorrow with some LA-based playwrights. And, fingers crossed, will get to meet with the smaller and more elusive teAda company before I fly out on Saturday.

And another great start to my week was finding out that the script for Moths received a Highly Commended mention in the 2013 Griffin Awards.