San Francisco Communities of Color Come Together to Support the Performing Arts

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San Francisco Communities of Color Come Together
to Support the Performing Arts

From left to right: Harry Kim, Relocation Appeals Board Commissioner
Darryl Chiang, Interim Executive Director, Asian American Theater Company
Stanley Williams, Artistic Director, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre
Rev. Amos Brown, NAACP-SF President
Nancy McFadden, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, PG&E
Quentin Easter, Executive Director, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre
James Fang, AsianWeek President

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, October 3, 2008 — In this unprecedented multi-cultural collaboration, the Asian American Theater Company (AATC), Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (LHT), AsianWeek, National Association for the Advanced of Colored People, and PG&E are pleased to announce an exciting partnership. The Asian American Theater and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre will assist each other in casting plays and will co-promote the plays to both theatre’s audiences. In February of 2009, LHT will present Waitin’ 2 End Hell – African American playwright William a. Parker’s comedy drama about marriage and relationships which features an Asian American female character; and in 2009, AATC will mount the world premiere of Aurorae Khoo’s dark comedy Fayette-Nam, about a young African American army private who goes AWOL on the eve of being shipped to Iraq, and confronts his hopes and fears with the help of the Lee family, who own the Chinese restaurant and donut shop he has holed up in.

LHT’s Waitin’ 2 End Hell will be presented at PG&E Auditorium, at 77 Beale Street in San Francisco’s financial district and Fayette-Nam, underwritten by a generous grant from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, will be presented at the Thick House in Potrero Hill, San Francisco.

“We look forward to working with Asian American Theater Company as we complete our casting for Waitin’ 2 End Hell, and assist in their casting of Fayette-Nam; and we anticipate a lively interaction between our two audiences as we encourage them to attend both productions,” said LHT Artistic Director Stanley Williams. “And a very special thanks to PG&E for the use of their auditorium which makes this collaboration with Asian American Theater possible.”

“This is an exciting opportunity to further the ties between our two artistic communities, and builds on the momentum created with Jeannie Barroga’s Walls, which had 3 major African American roles and which AATC produced at the African American Art & Culture Complex in 2006,” said AATC’s Interim Executive Director Darryl Chiang.  We are thrilled to be working with LHT this coming year and beyond.”

AsianWeek and the NAACP express their strong support of this collaboration between these organizations of color.

“I applaud the efforts of AsianWeek, the Lorraine Hansberry Theater, and the organizations involved to create a cultural base that transcends any social divisiveness through performing arts,” said Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP.  “The NAACP is based on the philosophy and principles that are committed to the advancement of all cultures and ethnic groups of this nation.”

“San Francisco leads the country in diversity,” said Ted Fang, editor and publisher of AsianWeek.  “This important multicultural collaboration through the performing arts is an example of it. It not only enriches our diverse cultures and performing arts but it is an affluent and untapped market for a myriad of audiences and sponsors.”

“PG&E is very pleased to provide our auditorium at 77 Beale Street to the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre,” said Nancy McFadden, senior vice president of public affairs for PG&E. “We are committed to helping the theatre achieve its mission as one of the leading African-American arts organizations in the region. We are confident that the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre will have a successful season and PG&E is happy to be a small part of that success.”

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About the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre
SEW Productions Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (LHT) was founded in 1981 by Artistic Director Stanley E. Williams and Executive Director Quentin Easter, to present high-quality, professionally directed plays by America’s foremost African-American playwrights; provide employment and career-building opportunities for local actors, directors, designers, and technicians of color; and foster youth development and cultural enrichment through instructional workshops and special outreach programs.
www.LHTSF.org

About the Asian American Theater Company
The mission of the Asian American Theater Company (AATC) is to connect people to Asian American cultures through theater. AATC was established in 1973 to develop and present original works of theater about Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. 35 years later, AATC remains committed to producing groundbreaking, entertaining and innovative art. AATC not only premieres mainstage productions every year, but also serves as a workshop where Asian Pacific American writers, actors and directors can create new works, present staged readings, teach professional skills to a new generation of artists, and foster a vibrant, multi-cultural artistic community.
www.asianamericantheater.org