East West Beams Up Pledge of $1 Million

A dinner with George Takei of “Star Trek” fame has yielded a pledge of $1 million to East West Players from a 28-year-old Malaysian entrepreneur who has never seen an East West production.

The pledge is one of the largest ever made by an individual to one of Los Angeles’ smaller theater companies.

The surprise benefactor’s name, Vinod Sekhar, will go on the Little Tokyo building that contains East West’s new theater, for which construction has just begun. The building’s front courtyard will be named after Sekhar’s 13-month-old daughter, Petra.

The 31-year-old East West Players--the nation’s oldest Asian American theater group--is conducting a campaign to raise $1.5 million for renovations, capital costs, equipment and an endowment for the new 236-seat theater, which will be part of the Union Center for the Arts, occupying the Old Union Church building near San Pedro and 1st streets.

Theater officials announced this week that $1,230,000 has been raised--a total that counts only the first $100,000 and $50,000 installments of Sekhar’s gift, which are expected in February and June, respectively, and are designated as money for the courtyard.

Sekhar told The Times that after the initial installments he will give $100,000 annually for four more years. Then, if East West has met its own self-defined goals, he’ll give the company the rest of the $1 million in a lump sum.

Sekhar reportedly is involved in 185 companies, from cigars to automobiles to rubber recycling to medical research. Last year, he bought a small L.A.-based entertainment company, ICMIM (I Can Make It Myself) Productions, which this week completed production here on its first film, an Asian American feature called “100%.” ICMIM’s chief executive officer, Indonesian-born Jusak Yang Bernhard, is on the committee that’s running East West’s New Theatre Campaign.

Sekhar had already pledged donations of $20,000, then $50,000, he told guests at an East West reception Monday. But then last September, Bernhard arranged for Sekhar to meet at Bombay Palace in Beverly Hills with East West artistic director Tim Dang and other East West officials, including the building campaign’s co-chair Takei, best known as Mr. Sulu of “Star Trek.”

“I’m a Trekkie,” Sekhar said. “I live for ‘Star Trek.’ I’ve got every tape from start to end, and there I am having dinner with Mr. Sulu. The zeros got added after that.”

Yet Sekhar is interested in more than just Takei. “You empower people by letting them share their experiences with the public,” he said in an interview. “That creates more understanding, so the playing field is level. East West Players has an important role in providing energy for the entire community, and here is an opportunity for them to build a bridge between artistic communities here and in Asia.” Malaysian artists “need more confidence, and a collaboration with East West would help.” Sekhar said he would not attach conditions to his gift, adding, “I’ll introduce [Malaysian artists to East West staff], but it’s not my role to interfere.”

According to Dang, during the course of the dinner Sekhar had already agreed to give $500,000 to the building fund when the conversation turned to his desire to see more of the Southeast Asian experience on American stages. When Dang indicated that this goal also interests East West, “that’s when he said, ‘OK, I’ll give you another half-million to implement the artistic aspect of it.’ ”

At the reception for donors Monday, Takei pledged as much: “We’ll be able to incorporate plays and themes from Southeast Asia and specifically Malaysia [in East West programming]. This is both a challenge and a trust.”

Sekhar also indicated that he hopes to pay back some of what he has gained from his American experiences. He was educated at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Penn. “I owe America at lot,” he told the reception guests.

Sekhar’s wife and daughter saw East West’s revival of “Cabaret” last fall, Dang said, but Sekhar himself has not seen East West’s work. He is in the United States only a few days out of each month.

Several other major donors also were thanked at the reception Monday. Banker Henry Hwang and his wife Dorothy Hwang, parents of playwright David Henry Hwang, gave $150,000, and the theater itself will be named after their son, the writer of “M. Butterfly” and the current “Golden Child.” Mikasa manufacturers George and Sakaye Aratani gave $100,000, and the lobby will be named for them. Arco and AT&T; gave $50,000 each, and a column in front of the building will be named for each of the two firms.