East West Players (EWP), the nation’s longest-running Asian American theater and the largest producer of Asian American artistic work, announces the cast and company for the first production of the highly anticipated National New Play Network rolling world premiere of “Paranormal Inside” by Prince Gomolvilas, directed by Jeff Liu.
Just in time for Halloween, this supernatural thriller reunites audiences with Max and Delia, the unforgettable characters at the heart of EWP’s 2022 Los Angeles premiere of “The Brothers Paranormal,” also written by Gomolvilas and helmed by Liu. The sequel marks the third production in EWP’s 60th anniversary season.
“Paranormal Inside” finds Max and Delia once again navigating the perilous intersection of grief, ancestry, and identity, as a sinister spirit threatens to upend the fragile peace they built five years after the events of “The Brothers Paranormal.” As the boundaries between the living and the dead once again dissipate, the play explores the generational trauma and cultural legacies that linger long after the lights go out. Will they survive or be claimed by the forces that haunt their past?
EWP Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal says,“We are absolutely thrilled to collaborate with longtime EWP playwright Prince Gomolvilas as part of our 60th anniversary season and to partner with our fellow co-commissioning theaters, Theater Mu and Perseverance Theatre.
“‘Paranormal Inside’ continues a story that captivated audiences and digs even deeper into the ways culture, grief, and spirituality shape our lives. It also allows our community to claim space in the horror genre – a genre that has historically excluded Asian American artists and narratives.
“Prince’s work has always pushed the boundaries of what American theater can be, and this play continues breaking barriers with an intercultural and intergenerational, pulse-pounding ghost story. We cannot wait for audiences to experience the next chapter within this dynamic universe.”
“I fully intended ‘The Brothers Paranormal’ to be my last show — a fitting bookend to a career that began at EWP so long ago,” shares Gomolvilas. “But East West Players, Perseverance Theatre, and Theater Mu had the audacity to offer me a new-play commission. I couldn’t refuse. I found I had more to say about supernatural phenomena, Thai America, cross-cultural connectivity, and the mysterious world in which we all inhabit.”
Liu adds, “How rarely do we get to do a sequel in the theater? What a joy that three wonderful companies came together so we can go on another adventure with these bruised but funny souls, the Thai American Max and African American Delia.
“They’re older, possibly wiser, but life’s challenges and those voices from the other side aren’t done with them yet, so we too get to deepen our relationship with these indelible characters that Prince has so lovingly imagined into further life.”
The production marks another milestone in Gomolvilas’s prolific collaboration with EWP, which includes “Big Hunk o’ Burnin’ Love” (1998), “The Theory of Everything” (2000), “Mysterious Skin” (2010), and the EWP Theatre for Youth show “Scrimmage” (2019).
Liu helmed both the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre and EWP stagings of “The Brothers Paranormal” as well as EWP’s “Ixnay” (2009), “Chinglish” (2015), and “Unbroken Blossoms” (2024).
The cast features the lead actors returning from the 2022 EWP production of “The Brothers Paranormal”: Tamika Simpkins as Delia and David Huynh as Max. Joining them on stage will be Christine Corpuz as Bincy, veteran EWP artist Alberto Isaac as Somboon, Aja Hinds as Tasha, and Davide Costa as Ethan. Understudies include Dekontee Tucrkile, Ace Christensen, Ratana, and Ryan Beaghler.
The creative team includes Shinshin Yuder Tsai (intimacy director), Cesar Cipriano (fight choreographer), Siwaraya Rochanahusdin (cultural/language consultant), Alayna Jacqueline (dramaturg), Josh Bennett (assistant director), Allen “Lucky” Weaver (casting director), Randy Wong-Westbrooke (scenic designer), Brian Gale (lighting designer), JJ Javier (costume designer), John Zalewski (sound designer), David Murakami (projections designer), Ariya Selvakumar (assistant projections designer) Dominik Krzanowski (visual effects designer),
Rye Mandel (properties designer), Brandon Hong Cheng (stage manager), and Irene DH Lee (assistant stage manager).
“Paranormal Inside” Oct. 9 through Nov. 2 at the David Henry Hwang Theater at Union Center for the Arts,120 Judge John Aiso St. in Little Tokyo. Performance times are Thursdays (select weeks), Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays (select weeks) at 8 p.m., with additional 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and 5 p.m. performances on Sunday.
Opening Night is Sunday, Oct. 12, at 5 p.m. All Saturday 2 p.m. performances are “Masked Matinees,” making theater more accessible to audiences who prefer a masked experience. Monday, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m. is the Pay-What-You-Will performance.
Special events include Student Night on Oct. 16, a Playwright’s Conversation after the Oct. 19 performance, an Artist Talkback after the Oct. 26 performance, and a Halloween costume contest to accompany the Oct. 31 performance. All performance dates and details are subject to change.
EWP 60th anniversary season value bundle memberships and single tickets to “Paranormal Inside” are available online at eastwestplayers.org or by calling (213) 625-7000. 60th anniversary season value bundle membership sales end Sunday, Oct. 12.
“Paranormal Inside” is supported in part by the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office (CEO) Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion (ARDI) Initiative’s Equity and Diversity Fund; the Venturous Theater Fund, a fund of Tides Foundation; the National New Play Network Venturous Production Pipeline Award; Asian Pacific Community Fund; The Roy Cockrum Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Alex Giza and Cathy Noonan; Tom Stempel; and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.
EWP is a recipient of the 2025 THRIVE! Grant, funded by the Theater League of Kansas City and administered by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for theatre leading for a just and thriving theatre ecology.