Snehal Desai News

Next up at East West Players, the world premiere of On This Side of the World co-produced with FilAm ARTS and opening May 14, 2023 (with previews beginning May 11th). Noam Shapiro directs the cast of Steven-Adam Agdeppa, Zandi De Jesus, Michael C. Palma, Cassie Simone, Andrea Somera and Shaun Tuazon, with understudies Melvin Biteng and Justine Rafael. East West Players alumni Michael took some time from his rehearsals and photography to answer a few of my queries.

Center Theatre Group will work alongside The SpringHill Company’s Emmy Award-winning studio team to bring Will Power’s “Fetch Clay, Make Man” to the Kirk Douglas Theatre in June. Learn how to purchase tickets!

Actors' Equity Association and the Broadway League have come to an agreement on touring contracts. In addition, President Biden appointed a number of high-profile artists to the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Furthermore, a recent ruling on Tony eligibility has raised questions about Tony nominators and nonbinary performers.

Snehal Desai will become the next artistic director of Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group, joining Managing Director / CEO Meghan Pressman to lead one of the nation’s largest theatre organizations.

East West Players, the nation’s longest-running Asian American theater and the largest producer of Asian American theatrical works will present the world premiere of On This Side of the World.

​The National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced the Award Recipients for the 2022/2023 Writers Residency Grants.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 19th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust has announced the names of the two outstanding early-to-mid-career playwrights who will be celebrated with 2022 Steinberg Playwright Awards in the amount of $100,000 each.  This year’s recipients of the “Mimi” Awards are James Ijames and Lloyd Suh. 

The latest standings as of Monday, December 12th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

East West Players, the nation’s longest-running Asian American theater and the largest producer of Asian American theatrical works, is launching its 57th anniversary season.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 5th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The first live standings have been announced for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

East West Players will present The Brothers Paranormal. Written by East West Players multi-produced playwright Prince Gomolvilas and directed by Jeff Liu, The Brothers Paranormal performs November 17 through December 11, 2022 with opening night on Sunday, November 20. 

East West Players will present the world premiere of The Great Jheri Curl Debate. Written by Inda Craig-Galván and directed by Scarlett Kim, The Great Jheri Curl Debate performs September 15 through October 9, press night is September 17. 

East West Players, in partnership with API RISE, has announced the return engagement of FROM NUMBER TO NAME: BACK TO LIFE, a reimagining of the criminal justice system with stories from the API community, from August 5 to 7.

Ovation Award-nominated director Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx will succeed Director of Cultural Arts Jon Imparato (set to retire June 30) as the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center’s new Artistic Director.  Besides overseeing the Center’s two live performance venues — the 200-seat Renberg Theatre and the 50-seat black box Davidson/Valentini Theatre, Jonathan’s other priorities are to engage communities through arts programming, bring emerging L.A. artists to the Center’s various locations, and to offer workshops and classes for free or at low cost. Jonathan opened up some from his final days at A Noise Within to address a few of my queries.

Musical Theatre West has announced the return of one of the world's most popular musicals, Grease, to its stage this summer! Fifty years after the original show hit Broadway, MTW's 2022 production of Grease will tell the classic love story of Danny and Sandy, featuring a talented cast that reflects the diversity of a typical Long Beach high school.

East West Players has announced casting for the rolling world premiere of INTERSTATE, an Asian-American pop-rock poetry musical that follows Dash, a transgender spoken word performer who becomes internet-famous along with his best friend Adrian, a lesbian singer-songwriter.

After two years of delayed or canceled shows, zoom auditions, and virtual casting, Musical Theatre West will hold the first live, in person auditions of their new season the week of May 10 for their upcoming production of Grease. Auditions and Rehearsals will be held at the MTW's rehearsal hall: 4350 E 7th Street, Long Beach, CA 90804. Performances will be held at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center: 6200 E Atherton St, Long Beach, CA 90815.

East West Players has resumed LIVE performances with Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins (already opened). East West Players’ producing artistic director Snehal Desai directs the cast which includes Trance Thompson, Gedde Watanabe, Adam Kaokept, Joan Almedilla, Max Torrez, Christopher Chen, George Xavier, Astoncia Bhagat, Arvin Lee, Aric Martin, Kym Miller, Andrea Somera, Jalen Lum, Michael Cavinder and Maya Nahree McGowan. I had the chance to toss a few questions to Gedde, this enduring, steadily working actor, about his long relationship with East West and his various other acting gigs.