East West Players Adds Its Muscle to Soft Power
Center Theatre Group artistic director Michael Ritchie announced that the company with partner with East West Players — the nation's premier Asian-American theater organization — on the upcoming world premiere of Tony winners David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori's Soft Power, at Ahmanson Theatre May 3-June 10, 2018.
The East West Players will now add this work to its 2017-2018 season. In addition, they will collaborate with Center Theatre Group on four Community Conversations — a series of free panel discussions exploring the themes of the work, which is a Center Theatre Group commission — scheduled for October 26; January 18, 2018; March 15, 2018; and June 5, 2018. Locations, topics, and panelists will be announced later.
With book and lyrics by Hwang and music by Tesori, Soft Power is described as beginning "as a contemporary play before jumping 100 years into the future and exploding into a Chinese musical about present-day America." The production will be directed by Leigh Silverman, with choreography by Sam Pinkleton.