EPOCH Theatre Company

Aloha,
Announcing the islands’ newest and boldest theatre: EPOCH Theatre Company

Mission-Vision Statement
CREATIVE: To stage existing plays and create new works across a spectrum of performance styles and traditions showcasing the histories, current experiences, and aspirations of People of Color (POC*).

COMPANY: To provide artists of color a range of opportunities in theatre to work as playwrights, actors, directors, designers, choreographers, and other performing arts practitioners, as well as prioritizing POC managers and other administrators.
 
COMMUNITY: To build a more inclusive theater community that reflects the diversity of thought, ideas, and worldviews of POC who reside in and throughout Hawai'i, and around the world.

*POC in this context refers to people who have been historically, and continue to be, marginalized in the USA such as Native Americans, Blacks, Asians, Mexicans, Pacific Islanders, Middle Easterners, and others who consider themselves POC, including bi/multiracial persons, who live in Hawai‘i and who may or may not identify as being “local” but/and also closely identify with socio-cultural experiences and heritages that are distinct or different from Western, European-American dominant culture.

We need your help in establishing our company and producing our inaugural  season, with three Hawai‘i premieres by critically acclaimed playwrights:

Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage — Hawai‘i Premiere
Directed by Troy M. Apostol
The time is 1905, the place New York City, where Esther, a black seamstress, lives in a boarding house for women and sews intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. One by one, the other denizens of the boarding house marry and move away, but Esther remains, lonely and longing for a husband and a future
Feb. 9, 10, 11
Feb. 16, 17, 18

Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang — Hawai‘i Premiere
Directed by Jason Kanda
Truth and fiction blur with hilarious and moving results as Asian-American playwright DHH leads a protest against the casting of Jonathan Pryce as the Eurasian pimp in Miss Saigon, condemning the practice as "yellowface." This soon comes back to haunt him when he mistakes a Caucasian actor, Marcus G. Dahlman, for mixed-race, and casts him in a lead Asian role.
March 30, 31, April 1
April 5, 6, 7, 8

Aubergine by Julia Cho — Hawai‘i Premiere
Directed by John Wat
In America, a man shares a bowl of berries, and a young woman falls in love. A world away, in Korea, a mother prepares a bowl of soup to keep her son from leaving home. And a son cooks a meal for his dying father to say everything that words can’t.
May 18, 19, 20
May 24, 25, 26, 27

Give NOW to support EPOCH Theatre Company and these incredible shows.

Our spring season is beginning pre-production, and we need your help to secure vital rehearsal/performance space, not to mention renting props, costumes, set pieces, etc. Your IMMEDIATE assistance is required.

Imagine a theatre in Hawai‘i where you can always see to newest/hottest POC Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, and where POC theatre and other performance artists can have a dedicated stage where they may always develop their craft. This is what your support will mean: the empowerment of people of color by telling their stories from here and around the world. Representation is key. Color is a beautiful thing.

In addition to providing top-notch POC stories and invaluable opportunities, EPOCH Theatre Company will also provide extra bonuses for your generous donations (See Reward Levels). But most of all, you will have our undying gratitude, and pride in knowing that you have helped to create a voice for all People of Color here in Hawai’i.

Mahalo!
Troy M. Apostol, Artistic Director
Sharon Garcia Doyle, Interim Production Manager
Jeanné Wynne Herring, Organizational Advisor