From May 21 to May 26, the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse will host the Asian Pacific American Festival, which celebrates Asian Pacific American culture, traditions and history with a free concert, film screening, discussions and more.

A week-long event, APAFEST will host a free screening of the 2018 hit “Crazy Rich Asians,” a symposium about living joyfully with discussions on emotional intelligence, family, parenting and volunteerism, a free concert with Cheryl K and Katherine Ho of “Crazy Rich Asians,” youth opera performances, a performance of “Scrimmage” presented by the performing arts group East West Players, and an original play by Elite Performing Arts Group USA. Each of these programs will feature a connection to the Asian Pacific American community through the use of storytelling, discussion and art.

“May is national Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and the City of San Gabriel is thrilled to celebrate it with APAFEST, a week-long series of events at our beautiful and historic Mission Playhouse,” said Mayor Jason Pu. “Please join us as we bring the community together and highlight some of the many contributions of our Asian Pacific American community in the arts, entertainment and culture. Many thanks to our Community Services Department and our partnering organizations, United Charity Foundation and East West Players, for helping to bring APAFEST to the City of San Gabriel.”

The event also features appearances by noted fashion designers Kevan and Debbie Hall, composer/singer Angela Sheng and authors Becky Lei, Ivy Sun, Rosa Zee and Vivian Chan.

The festival takes place at the Mission Playhouse located at 320 South Mission Drive, San Gabriel. APAFEST is a collaboration between the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse’s community engagement program Engage! , the United Charity Foundation and executive producer Vivian Chan. For more information about APAFEST, please visit APAFEST.org.