Sunday, August 24, 2025
Tam Tran Goes
to Washington Benefit Premiere Performance
Join East West Players for the benefit premiere performance of the 2025/26 Theatre for Youth touring production of Tam Tran Goes to Washington by Elizabeth Wong, directed by Rona Par, and hosted by Clyde Kusatsu!
Tam Tran Goes to Washington Benefit Premiere Performance, Discussion & Reception
Sunday, August 24, 2025, 4:00–6:30 p.m.
David Henry Hwang Theater at Union Center for the Arts
120 Judge John Aiso Street, Little Tokyo, DTLA
Join East West Players for the benefit premiere performance of the 2025/26 Theatre for Youth touring production of Tam Tran Goes to Washington by Elizabeth Wong.
This fundraiser in support of EWP’s Arts Education programs for Youth–Theatre for Youth and EWPlay!–will include the revival premiere performance of Tam Tran Goes to Washington, a post-show conversation with playwright Elizabeth Wong and student organizer Malaya Conui, and a dessert and drinks reception in our courtyard. Longtime EWP artist, actor, and labor advocate Clyde Kusatsu (Star Trek: The Next Generation, A Man on the Inside) will host the event.
Tickets are $100 each ($85 tax-deductible).
This special event is supported in part by The Beulah Quo & Edwin Kwoh Fund for Arts Education. Desserts and beverages compliments of Cafe Dulce; additional catering by Far Bar.
About Tam Tran Goes to Washington
Tam Tran, a quiet UCLA senior who prefers life behind her camera, faces her biggest challenge yet. As an undocumented student, she unexpectedly becomes an activist alongside her outgoing best friend, Cinthya Felix. When Congress invites Tam to testify for the DREAM Act in Washington, DC, her world turns upside down.
Event Speakers
About Elizabeth Wong, playwright & panelist
Elizabeth Wong is a playwright, theatre director, sitcom writer, poet, multi-media artist, and a professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Her family plays and musicals are often comedic coupled with social justice issues. She’s received commissions from The Kennedy Center, Honolulu Theatre For Youth, Denver Center Theatre, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Her TYA plays include Ibong Adarna: A Filipino Folktail, The Play Formerly Known As The Happy Prince, Prometheus, Goloshes Of Fortune, Boid & Oskar, and Amazing Adventures Of The Marvelous Monkey King. Her other plays include @Lys, Letters To A Student Revolutionary, China Doll, Kimchee & Chitlins, Space Nuns Of The Rescue Mainframe, and Dating & Mating In Modern Times. She recently produced and wrote an immersive multimedia art/ soundscape, Voices Of The Universe, inspired by NASA sonifications with images from the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. Her installation was exhibited at the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory, Garvey Ranch Park Observatory, and Taxco Theatre gallery. She also writes first-person essays for The Los Angeles Times. Elizabeth also writes with a five-member women's poetry collective founded by novelist E.E. King. Their first book of badass poetry together, An Illegal Feast, is now published by Broadstone Books. She’s a member of the Dramatist Guild and Writers Guild West. Website: www.elizabethwong.net; Facebook: elizabeth.wong8; Instagram: elizabethwong648; Bluesky: elizabeth@elizabethwong.bsky.social
About Malaya Coniu, organizer & panelist
Malaya Coniu is an organizer with GABRIELA West-LA and Anakbayan UCLA. As a Labor Studies undergrad at UCLA, Malaya has organized Filipino youth and students to campaign for genuine, pro-people education and for improved conditions for UCLA’s campus and medical center workers. Through the Labor Studies Department and through Anakbayan as a member of the UC Divest Coalition, Malaya has supported IDEAS’ Opportunity 4 All campaign, fighting for the basic right for undocumented students to work on UC campuses.
About Odette Avendaño, organizer & panelist
Odette Avendaño is a second-year student at UCLA pursuing a Masters of Public Policy with a concentration in immigration, economics, and labor policy. Odette began her organizing journey at UCLA IDEAS and the Labor Center after finding her voice and story through the classes she was taking with the Labor Department. Odette has spent several years working with organizations committed to addressing the following issues: Immigrant, Economic, and Education Justice and their intersectionality. Her commitment lies in bringing her knowledge, experience, and compassion to lead the immigrant rights movement with sensitivity and care.
About Jesús Sotelo Martínez, educator & speaker
Jesús Sotelo Martínez is an LAUSD public-school Social Studies teacher at Gardena High School. He currently teaches US History, Psychology, Ethnic Studies, coordinates the Mosaic Art Project, and is the Drama Club and Music Club advisor. Mr. Martínez is a dedicated, visionary, and resourceful educator who strives to meet his students’ academic and social-emotional needs. He has taught at every grade level, from kindergarten to graduate-level seminars at California State University, Northridge. Last academic year he began a collaboration with East West Players that brought the staging of Patsy and acting workshops to Gardena High School. He is extremely grateful to the Theatre for Youth program that inspires students across Southern California.
About Jade Cagalawan, Director of Arts Education & speaker
Jade Cagalawan is an advocate for accessible arts education, and it is her goal to make East West Players’ programming, such as Theatre for Youth, available to all communities. Jade is also an adjunct lecturer, and was formerly a freelance AEA Stage Manager, Company Manager, and Producer. In her free time, she organizes with Filipino Women's group, Gabriela South Bay.
About Rona Par, director & speaker
Rona Par is an actor, director, and educator who is delighted to bring her passion for both theater and education to this project. Her educational theater acting credits include touring productions with Imagination Company and East West Players’ Asian Pacific Tales. As a director, her work includes Neiges D’Antan, a two-woman cabaret inspired by the music of Kurt Weill; Mother Tongue and Boba Stories with hereandnow theatre company; and the short animated film, Bedtime Stories. She currently serves as the director of the theater program at Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, CA, where she has directed numerous productions, including Our Town, Little Shop of Horrors, Legally Blonde Jr., and most recently, Beetlejuice Jr.
About Lily Tung Crystal, Artistic Director & speaker
Lily Tung Crystal is the Artistic Director of East West Players, the former artistic director of Theater Mu in Minneapolis-St Paul, and the co-founder of Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company in the Bay Area. Directorial works include the upcoming world premiere of Ankita Raturi’s नेहा & Neel (Artists At Play in association with Latino Theater Company), the world premiere of Jessica Huang and Jacinth Greywoode’s new musical, Blended 和(Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters (Mu/History Theatre); the world premiere of Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay’s The Kung Fu Zombies Saga (Mu); Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band (Mu/Jungle Theater); and Steven Karam’s The Humans (Park Square Theatre), which won the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers’ Favorite Play 2022. As an actor/singer, Tung Crystal has performed nationally at theaters including Cal Shakes, Jungle Theater, Magic Theatre, Mixed Blood, New World Stages, Playwrights’ Center, Portland Center Stage, SF Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, and Theater Mu.
About Clyde Kusatsu, host
Clyde Kusatsu–a prolific character actor with more than 331 film and television credits–launched his acting career with East West Players in 1970 after graduating from Northwestern University. His film credits include Midway and The Challenge with Toshiro Mifune, Black Sunday, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, In the Line of Fire, Paradise Road, American Pie, Shopgirl, The Interpreter, and Shanghai Surprise. His TV credits include series regular and recurring roles on Bring ‘Em Back Alive, Island Son, Star Trek: The Next Generation, All American Girl, Family Matters, and Dr. Ken. Among his TV films are Farewell to Manzanar, Dr. Strange, And the Sea Will Tell, and as Judge Ito in CBS's American Tragedy. He’s also appeared on Kung Fu, M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Lou Grant, Magnum, P.I., Young Rock, The United States of Al, and most recently in season one of A Man On The Inside on Netflix and also in one episode of Season 2. He has recurred on daytime soaps including The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, and, currently, Days of Our Lives. He has voiced characters in Blue Eye Samurai and Avatar as well as dubbing in Hyper Knife on HULU and many other shows. A longtime advocate for union and labor issues, he is Secretary of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, having previously served as four-term LA National Vice-President of the SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Local and First Elected President of the Los Angeles Local! He was recently presented on May 10th with The Ralph Morgan Award for Service by The Los Angeles Local.
About Theatre for Youth
East West Players is committed to sharing multi-ethnic perspectives and stories with youth in the Los Angeles area. Our Theatre for Youth touring production offers new ways to see the world through theater that stimulate students to discover the prominent roles AANHPI individuals have played in our history. Created in the early 1970s, Theatre for Youth was designed to promote cultural understanding and racial tolerance. Today, the program strives to expand the history and curriculum to include stories about pioneering and groundbreaking Americans. Each year, an original piece is commissioned, staged, and toured to schools, libraries, and community centers throughout the region. School performances are preceded by visits from teaching artists who employ a bilingual study guide to assist educators in integrating lessons from the plays into their classroom curriculum. The 2024/25 tour of Patsy played to nearly 2,700 students, teachers, parents, and community members. Theatre for Youth is supported in part by California Arts Council, a state agency (learn more at www.arts.ca.gov); Dwight Stuart Youth Fund; L.L. Foundation for Youth; Cathay Bank Foundation; Green Foundation; and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.
About EWPlay!
EWPlay! is a residency program that brings immersive, intensive theater arts training to local schools. EWP performer teaching artists lead a twice-weekly after-school program for 7th graders for up to 12 weeks. The sessions are designed to give students a basic foundation in theater techniques as well as foster awareness and appreciation of class members’ cultural heritage. EWPlay! continues in 2025/26 with residencies at Palms Middle School and Sal Castro Middle School. EWPlay! is supported in part by Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, Thelma Pearl Howard Foundation, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.
Click here for Box Office hours and contact information.
Cast
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Jade Duong (she/her) is honored to debut her journey with East West Players in a program and production she cares very deeply about. Having graduated from UC Riverside with degrees in Political Science and Theatre, she is very grateful to be telling Tam’s story today. Jade is a multi-faceted Vietnamese performer based in LA; doing film, theatre, commercials, and voiceover work. Recently, she was seen as Miss Honey (Matilda), Joanne (RENT), and Kim (Miss Saigon). Outside of her acting career, she is a Disneyland performer and proud dog mom.
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Nina Santoyo is an LA-born and based actor and Teaching Artist. A recent graduate from USC's School of Dramatic Arts, they have performed in Productions including "WE, THE INVISIBLES", "GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT", and various Hollywood Fringe productions. They are a nominee of Hollywood Fringe's Award for Immersive and Games category, and are so excited to share this story with you. They would like to thank their parents, sister, and loving husband for their never-ending support.
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Pauline is elated to return to Theatre for Youth after appearing as Congresswoman Patsy Mink in last season's production of Patsy. She has an extensive commercial career and can be seen in ads for Volkswagen, Avocados from Mexico, State Farm, Google, Homes.com, and McDonalds, just to name a few. TV shows include "Criminal Minds" and "Ballard" with Maggie Q. She is also a professional stand-up comedian and was finalist in the 2019 San Francisco Comedy Competition and winner of California's Funniest Female Competition in 2013.
Credits
Playwright
Elizabeth Wong
Director
Rona Par
Stage Manager
Ashley Marie Macalino
Sound Designer
Gavin Higa
Costume Designer
Mika Dyo
Scenic/Properties Designer
Iliana Cusack-Mercedez
Lighting Designer
Antonia Yang
Intimacy Coordinator
Carly DW Bones
Assistant Director
Evelyn Wu-Coffey
Assistant State Manager
Andrea Lopez
Tour Coordinator
Phoenix Lee
Production Manager
Larry Steve Mayorquin
Advisories
Content & Trigger Warning
This production discusses deportation, the struggles of living as an undocumented immigrant in the US, detention under ICE, and death caused by drunk driving.
We understand that this is the reality of many members in our community. Should you feel discomfort or distress, please feel free to step outside and take a break during the performance.
Our Study Guide is a tool that can be used to help facilitate important conversations, process these important themes, and provide resources to find support for yourself and others.
A Content Warning is a verbal or written notice that precedes potentially sensitive content, allowing for the viewer to prepare themselves so that they are able to engage or disengage with the content. Trigger warnings are of a more serious nature that may cause a physiological and/or psychological response, such as anxiety. There may be overlap between the two.
If you would like to learn more about the content warnings of this show, please reach out to boxoffice@eastwestplayers.org.
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