East West Players Sets New Dates for FLOWER DRUM SONG at the Aratani Theatre as Los Angeles Premiere of WIVES Joins the 61st Anniversary Season
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG will now open April 2026 with a new book by David Henry Hwang at the 880-seat Aratani Theatre, directed by Lily Tung Crystal. WIVES, directed by Arpita Mukherjee, will shift to EWP’s 61st Season programming.
East West Players (EWP), the largest and longest-running Asian American theater in the country, is thrilled to announce exciting updates to its upcoming production lineup, along with a special celebration highlighting 60 years of groundbreaking artistic achievement. The beloved golden-era musical Rodgers & Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG, featuring a new book by Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang and directed by EWP artistic director Lily Tung Crystal, will open in April 2026 at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center’s (JACCC) Aratani Theatre. Jaclyn Backhaus’s acclaimed new work WIVES, originally slated for early Spring 2026, now shifts to EWP’s 61st Anniversary Season programming and will be directed by Arpita Mukherjee, artistic director of Hypokrit Live Arts in New York City. The adjustment allows for FLOWER DRUM SONG to be staged in the 880-seat Aratani Theatre before a major renovation project begins in the venue immediately after the show closes.
JACCC Campus external view, 2023. Photo by Mike Park.
These programming shifts set the stage for a milestone year at EWP, as the company continues to honor its rich legacy and enduring influence on Asian American theater. To mark six decades of artistic excellence and community impact, EWP and the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) will host a central celebration: Stages of Our Stories: 60 Years of Asian American Theater at East West Players. This commemorative event, held at JANM’s Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy (Democracy Center) in Little Tokyo, will highlight pivotal moments from EWP’s history by presenting excerpts from six landmark plays, one from each decade of the company’s existence. The evening promises to be a moving tribute to the EWP artists that have shaped the Asian American theater landscape.
EWP artistic director Lily Tung Crystal remarks, “I curated East West Players’ 60th season to honor the pioneers who have shaped this historic theater over the past six decades, to lift up the stories and artists who will define the next six, and to celebrate Los Angeles’s vibrant theater community. Each play this season was selected to recognize the people and places that make this space so meaningful. I feel deeply fortunate to have been entrusted with this legacy, and, in collaboration with our partners at the Japanese American National Museum, we will celebrate all six decades with a spirited reading that brings together sixty years of trailblazing stories.’
‘This year, we are especially proud to present David Henry Hwang’s revised book for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG. Partnering with JACCC’s Aratani Theatre allows us to welcome more Angelenos to experience this production and strengthens our ties within the Little Tokyo community. This shift in our season enables us to expand our vision for FLOWER DRUM SONG, just as the Aratani Theatre embarks on its own next chapter.”
Tony-Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang and EWP Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal.
She continues, “Jaclyn Backhaus’s WIVES is also central to my vision for the future of East West Players. This incisive, heartfelt play about women reclaiming their stories from the shadows of their celebrated husbands points toward the direction of the next 60 years. I am thrilled to premiere WIVES in Los Angeles and usher in a bold new era for our theater.”
WIVES playwright Jaclyn Backhaus adds: “I am so excited for WIVES to be programmed at East West Players, under the genius stewardship of Lily Tung Crystal. The play whiz-bangs through time and all over the world and tackles history and hierarchy, and yet it is simultaneously my most personal work to date. I am so thrilled that this production brings me the opportunity to collaborate with visionary director Arpita Mukherjee to bring it to life in LA for the first time.”
WIVES Playwright Jaclyn Backhaus and WIVES Director Arpita Mukherjee.
In an era where marginalized voices are shaping mainstream consciousness like never before, Wives by Jaclyn Backhaus offers an ardent exploration of the power and resilience at the heart of women's stories. The laugh-out-loud comedy, featuring a South Asian and South Asian American cast, will now have its Southern California premiere at EWP during the upcoming 61st season (2026-2027). WIVES takes the audience on a spellbinding journey from 16th-century France to 1920s India and 1960s Idaho, offering potent perspectives on the lives of history’s influential men through the eyes of their equally formidable spouses. This work challenges the construction of historical narratives, framing them not as a series of events dominated by men, but as a tapestry woven by many hands.
Current EWP Season 60 members with reservations for WIVES will be contacted directly by Box Office staff to make further arrangements.
The enchanting golden-era musical Rodgers and Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG, directed by EWP artistic director Lily Tung Crystal, will serve as the grand finale for EWP’s Diamond Legacy season. Now opening in April 2026, the production will feature a new book by Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang, and will be staged at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center’s (JACCC) renowned Aratani Theatre. This staging not only reimagines a cornerstone of Asian American musical theater, but also takes advantage of a unique window of opportunity: the show will be the final production in the 880-seat venue before the Aratani Theatre undergoes a major renovation project immediately after the show closes.
Flower Drum Song pulls back the curtain on themes of assimilation and tradition in 1950s San Francisco Chinatown as Mei-li, a young Chinese opera artist fleeing communism, arrives in America, where she is immediately drawn into the dazzling world of the Grant Avenue nightclubs. At a time when conversations about identity, immigration, and cultural preservation are more important than ever, Tony Award-winning playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and EWP theater namesake David Henry Hwang’s reworking of the book for the Spring 2026 production allows Asian Americans to reclaim this cherished story in a meaningful way, illuminating the complexities and richness of the community’s continuous evolution.
Recognized in 2020 by the Ford Foundation as one of America’s Cultural Treasures, EWP’s groundbreaking work as a catalyst for cultural change continues with this milestone 60th season that originally launched with Lauren Yee’s CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND, directed by Chay Yew, followed by Philip Kan Gotanda’s YANKEE DAWG YOU DIE, directed by Jennifer Chang. The National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Prince Gomolvilas’s PARANORMAL INSIDE, directed by Jeff Liu, opens October 12, 2025. TAM TRAN GOES TO WASHINGTON, written by Elizabeth Wong and directed by Rona Par, is the 2025 - 2026 Theatre for Youth touring production.
Calendar Information
Stages of Our Stories: 60 Years of Asian American Theater at East West Players takes place at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center in Little Tokyo on December 6, 2025. Tickets available soon at janm.org/events.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song, previously slated for late Spring 2026, will now run April 16 - May 31, 2026 with opening night on Thursday, April 23. All performances now take place at the Aratani Theatre at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Little Tokyo.
Wives, previously slated for March 2026, will shift to the 61st Season of programming with performance dates revealed at the season announcement. Current EWP Season 60 members holding reservations for WIVES will be contacted directly by Box Office staff to make further arrangements.
All performance dates and details are subject to change.
East West Players 60th Anniversary Season Value Bundle Memberships are available until October 12, 2025. Single tickets for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song will become available in late November 2025.
