PAN ASIAN REPERTORY THEATRE will celebrate the start of its 37th season with a benefit dinner to be held Thursday, November 7 at the Golden Unicorn (18 E Broadway at Catherine Street) in Chinatown.

PAN ASIAN REP will salute Ming Cho Lee, one of the foremost set designers in America today whose awards include the National Medal of Arts, the highest national award given in the arts; the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture; a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre; Outer Critic’s Circle; and Drama Desk Awards. He has taught for more than 40 years at the Yale Drama School, nurturing generations of students who have gone on to award-winning design careers. The company will also salute Elizabeth R. OuYang and OCA-NY, for activism on behalf of Private Danny Chen. OuYang has served as President of OCA-New York for the last four years. With 27 years experience as a civil rights attorney, her expertise is in immigration, voter rights protection, and combating hate crimes. Founded in 1976, the New York Chapter of OCA is one of over 100 chapters and affiliates across the country dedicated to advancing the social, political and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States. The evening will be emceed by veteran artist, Ron Nakahara, director of PAN ASIAN’s spring production, the comedy FISHING FOR WIVES.

The evening’s entertainment will include Hula dances and songs helmed by Marina Celander, as well as photo tributes and remembrances of past productions.

Attendees will include Artistic Producing Director of Pan Asian Rep Tisa Chang; Emcee Ron Nakahara; Pan Asian Rep artists Tina Chen, Damon Chua, Michael G. Chin, Fay Ann Lee, Tom Matsusaka, Lu Yu and Henry Yuk; with entertainment from Hula dancers Marina Celander and Anne Matematico and musician Claudia Goddard on ukulele and slack key guitar performing – KA ULUWEHI O KE KAI (Abundance of the Sea) & HOLOHOLO Ka’a (Joy Ride); Pan Asian Rep Board of Trustees Andrew Buchta, David Fung, and Chris Wu; with special guests, Comptroller John C. Liu, and Beverly Okada, niece of famed NO-NO BOY author, John Okada.

The evening opens at 6pm with cocktail hour and appetizers, and continues with traditional Chinese banquet and presentation to salutees. It will benefit PAN ASIAN REPERTORY’s 37th milestone season that will focus on migration and social justice, and include the world premiere production, FISHING FOR WIVES by Edward Sakamoto, which is set in Hawaii in 1913, to be presented April 2014, and special performances of NO-NO BOY adapted from the John Okada novel, written by Ken Narasaki. Pan Asian’s season will also include Staged Readings open to the public: KALAUPAPA (Nov 12 at 7pm) by Jon Shirota, about a family struggling to survive in the Hawaiian leper colony, and SAIGON SISTERS (Nov 15 at 7pm) by Daniel Le, inspired by Chekhov’s masterpiece, and set in 1950’s Vietnam. More information on 37th season programs at www.panasianrep.org.

PAN ASIAN REPERTORY THEATRE, the most veteran Asian American theatre company on the East Coast, is dedicated to providing a professional forum to Asian American and minority artists, celebrating their talent and creativity. Founded 37-years ago and led by Tisa Chang, PAN ASIAN REP, which was called “a stage for all the world of Asian-Americans” by Mel Gussow of The New York Times, has opened doors for many who enjoy careers in film, television and on Broadway. Daniel Dae Kim, Lucy Liu, David Henry Hwang and Philip Kan Gotanda are several actors and playwrights who have collaborated with Pan Asian Rep over the years. The company has been invited to many international theater festivals including Edinburgh, Singapore, Cairo and Johannesburg. It was the first professional theater from the United States to be requested at the Havana Theatre Festival in 2003. Variety Magazine notes “….the aesthetic mission and professional chops of the Pan Asian Repertory Theater are admirable.”