Contact: Joni Byun
Nakatomi & Associates, Inc.
(310) 914-5000

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Great Leap, a community-based performing arts organization dedicated to cross-cultural understanding, will celebrate 25 years of innovative multicultural programming with its 25th Anniversary Reception and Auction on Saturday, September 13, 2003 in West Los Angeles.

The special event will be held in the courtyard of Nakatomi & Associates, 2013 Beloit Avenue, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The reception and auction—featuring live music, performances and refreshments—is open to the public with a minimum suggested donation of $50 per person.

The honorary co-chairs for the event are actors Amy Hill, who performed with Great Leap’s ensemble as part of “A Slice of Rice,” a festival of Asian American solo artists and Mathew St. Patrick. St. Patrick plays Officer Keith Charles on the groundbreaking HBO series, “Six Feet Under.”

Throughout the afternoon, Great Leap performers will share poetry, song, dance and dramatic readings. Nobuko and Friends will share an original new song and poet Ruben Guevara will perform his pieces, “Brooklyn and Soto” and “The Soul of Boyle Heights.” Emerging Latina artists, aurora anaya-cerda and Jo Anna Mixpe Ley will perform “Bridges” about their experiences growing up in Boyle Heights and attending an exclusive private school in Pasadena. Shishir Kurup will perform a new piece, “Sharif Don’t Like It,” a humorous, but not-so-funny look at the U.S.A. Patriot Act.

Additionally, actors Michael Paul Chan and Barry Shabaka Henley of the crime drama “Robbery Homicide Division” will emcee a live art auction. More than 25 local artists have donated unique pieces, from beautiful gourds designed by African American artist Patricia Boyd and auction curator/artist, Howard Swerdloff, to a wide variety of silk-screened prints and original artwork.

Also up for bid will be a range of eclectic items for the mind, body and soul. Some of the items include yoga classes from Krishna Kaur and YogaWorks; spa treatments; jewelry from Earth Monkey Designs and buddhayashi; a photo session from FSC International; “Six Feet Under” memorabilia; interior design consultation from Espace Design & Construction, and more.

Artistic director Nobuko Miyamoto founded Great Leap in 1978 as an Asian American dance company. Today it is a nationally recognized organization bringing theater, dance and music to diverse communities all over the country.
Great Leap’s touring production, “A Slice of Rice, Frijoles and Greens” brings the multicultural experience to college audiences across the country, as to more than 30,000 children in Southern California schools each year. Great Leap’s residency workshops in communities across the country from Detroit to Watts and Boyle Heights have brought together diverse constituencies through theater, performance and storytelling to promote a better understanding of how we can nurture a sense of appreciation for our unique diversity.

For more info about Great Leap’s 25th Anniversary Reception or auction items, visit www.greatleap.org or call Erica Rice at (213) 250-8800.