East West Players to Present CHRISTMAS IN HANOI, Beginning 2/7

East West Players (EWP) the nation's largest producing organization of Asian American artistic work and the longest-running professional theatre of color in the country, has partnered with Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC) & the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA) to present the World Premiere of the play CHRISTMAS IN HANOI.

CHRISTMAS IN HANOI is written by Eddie Borey and directed by Jeff Liu. The production features Joseph Daugherty (Voices From Okinawa), Elyse Dinh (Spider-Man 2, Heartland), Michael Krawic (the X-Files,Bloodsport 4, Star Trek), Elizabeth Liang (Crimes of the Heart) and Long Nguyen (Seven Psychopaths, Journey From the Fall).

CHRISTMAS IN HANOI is about a mixed-race family's return to Vietnam for the first time since the war. One year after the death of their strong-willed mother, siblings Winnie and Lou travel with their Irish Catholic father and Vietnamese grandfather to re-connect with their roots. Whether they embrace that past or reject it, they are haunted by their own family's ghosts and by the phantoms of Vietnam's long history. CHRISTMAS IN HANOI is the Winner of the East West Players Face of the Future Playwriting Competition, which focused on the exploration of the reality of a multicultural America from an Asian American perspective.

Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has been in existence for more than 20 years. MASC's is to seek to broaden self and public understanding of our interracial, multiethnic, and cross-cultural society by facilitating interethnic dialogue and providing cultural, educational, and recreational activities. With this vision in mind, MASC creates activities and designs programs to serve the community and increase awareness and understanding amongst the public about multiracial/multiethnic issues.

"MASC commends the creative minds and hands behind the play CHRISTMAS IN HANOI. We are so pleased to see East West Players representing the mixed-race community through this work and also providing a platform to discuss topics related to our community," says Farzana Nayani, President of MASC. "As an organization that has been serving the multiracial, multiethnic, and transracially-adopted community for over 20 years - seeing this play come to life and the opportunity for it to inspire discussion fulfills a tremendous part of our work and mission."

Founded in 1991 by a group of Vietnamese American journalists, artists and friends, Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA) is a community-based, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. VAALA's mission is to connect and enrich communities through Vietnamese art and culture.

VAALA has organized numerous cultural events such as art exhibitions, book fairs, book signings, recitals, plays, lectures, the biennial Vietnamese International Film

Festival (ViFF), the biennial Cinema Symposium, the annual Children's Moon Festival Art Contest and year-long art and music classes. VAALA developed smART Program, which offers free art workshops for non-profit youth organizations in the Orange County and Los Angeles areas. "We are delighted to be the community partner, for the first time, with East West Players, the nation's premier Asian American theatre," says Ysa Le, Co-Director of VAALA. It is a rare opportunity that a Vietnamese story gets featured on stage. We are very excited to see CHRISTMAS IN HANOI!"

Generous support for CHRISTMAS IN HANOI is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support was provided by City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, California Community Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Shubert Foundation, and Southern California Edison.

All performances of CHRISTMAS IN HANOI will be staged at the David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts at 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. The play is performed in English.

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