Asian American theatre
Encyclopedia
Asian American theater is theater written, directed or acted by Asian American
s.
in Los Angeles, Asian American Theatre Workshop (later renamed Asian American Theater Company
) in San Francisco, Theatrical Ensemble of Asians (later renamed Northwest Asian American Theatre) in Seattle, and Pan Asian Repertory Theatre
in New York City. The four companies have provided the resources and opportunities to actors, writers, directors, designers, and producers to pursue and define Asian American theatre for almost four decades. By the end of the 1990s, the number of Asian American theatre companies and performance groups grew to about forty. Asian American plays have appeared on Broadway
and regional theatres
and have received major awards both nationally and internationally. Asian American actors have used Asian American theatre companies as their artistic bases while pursuing careers in the mainstream theatre, film, and television. Alternative forms of theatre and performance such as multimedia performance, solo performance
, and spoken word
have also shaped Asian American theater. In the beginning, participants of Asian American theatre were mostly of East Asia
n descent, but in the 1990s and the 21st century, more artists of Southeast Asia
n and South Asia
n backgrounds have joined the community and have made Asian American theatre one of the fastest growing and changing sectors in American theatre
.
(EWP) was founded in 1965 by a group of actors who wanted to fight racism in the entertainment industry by creating non-stereotypical roles for Asian Americans. Led by the Japanese American actor Mako
, the actors at EWP first saw theatre as a venue to showcase their talent for television and film producers and directors, but by the early 1970s, the EWP began to actively sponsor original plays by Asian Americans. Frank Chin
, who founded the Asian American Theatre Workshop, argued that Asian American actors needed Asian American playwrights to create believable roles and to end dependence on the mainstream acting industry. Theatrical Ensemble of Asians (TEA) began in 1974 on the campus of the University of Washington
and later became Northwest Asian American Theatre (NWAAT). In addition to acting and playwriting, TEA emphasized community activism and became a cultural center for Asian Americans in Seattle. Pan Asian Rep
, on the other hand, emerged as part of Off-Off Broadway theatre in 1978. Founded by Tisa Chang, Pan Asian Rep became the representative Asian American theatre company in New York City and introduced Asian American plays to the East Coast audiences. In the 1980s and 1990s, Asian American theater companies were founded with more diverse purposes and styles. Many companies such as Ma-Yi Theater Company
(New York City) and Lodestone Theatre Ensemble
(Los Angeles) focus on producing new, original plays. Others companies' agendas departed greatly from the original four: National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) in New York City, for instance, stages canonized Western plays with all Asian cast, and Mu Performing Arts
in Minneapolis incorporates Asian theatrical styles to specifically cater to local audiences.
shows that featured Asian characters and settings, and shows such as The King and I
and Flower Drum Song
provided employment to a number of "Oriental" actors. However, such roles were blatantly stereotypical and racist. Moreover, all major roles were cast with white actors with facial makeup resembling an "Oriental". The popularity of Asian themes in Broadway shows did not continue through the 1960s, and "Oriental" actors found themselves unemployed in large numbers. While they were out of work, they observed white actors getting cast in Asian roles. "Oriental" actors began to protest this practice by creating activist organizations and creating work for themselves. The term "Asian American actor" emerged in the late 1960s when the Asian American Movement challenged the racist history of the label "Oriental." By the 1970s, Asian American actors were well organized in their fight for jobs and positive images for Asians. In New York, an activist group called Oriental Actors of America regularly protested openings of shows with white actors playing assians. In Los Angeles, East West Players became the most visible venue for Asian American actors to find acting employment and to participate in activism. The company's proximity to Hollywood attracted many ambitious and talented Asian American actors to Los Angeles. By the mid-1990s, over 75% of all Asian American actors had acted on the stage of EWP.
In the early 1990s, the controversy over the musical Miss Saigon
surfaced when Asian American actors protested the casting of the British actor Jonathan Pryce
for the role of the half-Vietnamese Engineer in the Broadway production of the musical. The protest was led by many prominent Asian American theater artists, including actor B. D. Wong, the artistic director of Pan Asian Rep, Tisa Chang, and the playwright David Henry Hwang
. Asian American actors initially lost their fight when the musical opened on Broadway with Pryce, but in the long run, the controversy generated many positive aftereffects for Asian American actors. The musical's ten-year run on Broadway employed an unprecedented number of Asian American actors, and the role of the Engineer was subsequently cast with Asian American actors.
Asian Americans have won the fight for employment, and while some roles for them stereotype those of Asian descent, Asian Americans are increasingly winning roles that respect and tolerate Asian Americans from the majority of producers who are realizing the reality of racial bigotry and ignorance that brings hostility and degradation to those oppressed.
, Momoko Iko, Edward Sakamoto, Hiroshi Kashiwagi
and Frank Chin
. Common themes in plays by first wave writers were Asian American history, generational conflict, cultural identity, cultural nationalism, and family history. In 1972, Frank Chin's The Chickencoop Chinaman
became the first Asian American play to be produced in New York City, and since then, Chin has become a major spokesperson for Asian American playwriting. He founded the Asian American Theatre Workshop in San Francisco to promote original playwriting by Asian Americans. The most commercially successful Asian American play was David Henry Hwang
's play M. Butterfly
, which became the first Asian American play to be produced on Broadway and won the Tony Award for Best Play
in 1988. The success of M. Butterfly created a national interest in Asian American plays, and regional theatre companies around the country began to produce plays by Hwang and other second wave Asian American writers such as Philip Kan Gotanda
and Velina Hasu Houston
. Such interest also promoted the publication of first anthologies of Asian American plays in the early 1990s. The mainstreaming of Asian American plays increased with works by third wave writers such as Diana Son, Sung Rno, Han Ong
, Chay Yew
, Rick Shiomi
and Ralph Peña
. These third wave writers felt that race and ethnicity were mere jumping off point in addressing multifaceted experiences of being an Asian American and wrote about any topic that interested them. All three waves of Asian American playwrights continue to produce works that define not only Asian American theatre, but also American theatre and global theatre.
is Ping Chong
, a Chinese American
multimedia artist
who has created avant-garde theatre since the early 1970s. He has used visual effects, sound control, dance, mime, spectacle, and other methods based on the sensibilities of Cantonese opera. Another form of alternative theatre is solo performance
. Often written, directed, and acted by one performer, solo performance has provided many Asian American artists with the opportunity to voice their experiences. Solo performers, such as Dan Kwong
, Denise Uyehara, Jude Narita, and Lane Nishikawa
, have toured with their shows and have introduced Asian American theatre to audiences in all parts of the country. Group performances have also toured, especially to colleges and universities. Often comedic, group performances, such as Slant Performance Group and the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, have been popular amongst college students, many of who saw Asian American performers onstage for the first time. Recently, spoken word
groups have become the newest form of Asian American theatre and performance.
Shaping Our Voice & Vision: the 2nd National Asian American Theater Conference took place June 5–7, 2008, in Minneapolis, co-hosted by Mu Performing Arts and Pangea World Theater.
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
s.
Background
Asian American theater emerged in the 1960s and the 1970s with the foundation of four theatre companies: East West PlayersEast West Players
East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1965. As one of the nation's first Asian American theatre organizations, East West Players today continues to produce works and educational programs that give voice to the Asian Pacific American...
in Los Angeles, Asian American Theatre Workshop (later renamed Asian American Theater Company
Asian American Theater Company
Asian American Theater Company is a non-profit theatre performance company based in San Francisco.-Background:The Asian American Theater Company was established in 1973 by playwright Frank Chin to develop and present original works of theatre about Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent...
) in San Francisco, Theatrical Ensemble of Asians (later renamed Northwest Asian American Theatre) in Seattle, and Pan Asian Repertory Theatre
Pan Asian Repertory Theatre
Founded in 1977 and led by Artistic Producing director Tisa Chang, the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre is a New York based theatre group that explores the Asian American experience. Pan Asian Rep provides professional opportunities for Asian American artists to collaborate and create unique works...
in New York City. The four companies have provided the resources and opportunities to actors, writers, directors, designers, and producers to pursue and define Asian American theatre for almost four decades. By the end of the 1990s, the number of Asian American theatre companies and performance groups grew to about forty. Asian American plays have appeared on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and regional theatres
Regional theatre in the United States
Regional theaters, or resident theaters, in the United States are professional or semi-professional, theater companies that produce their own seasons. The term regional theatre most often refers to professional theatres outside of New York City...
and have received major awards both nationally and internationally. Asian American actors have used Asian American theatre companies as their artistic bases while pursuing careers in the mainstream theatre, film, and television. Alternative forms of theatre and performance such as multimedia performance, solo performance
One man show
The term one-man show often referred to comedian, who would stand on stage and entertain an audience. With the advent of feminism, words and phrases such as one-woman show and comedienne have entered the modern-day lexicon....
, and spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
have also shaped Asian American theater. In the beginning, participants of Asian American theatre were mostly of East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
n descent, but in the 1990s and the 21st century, more artists of Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
n and South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
n backgrounds have joined the community and have made Asian American theatre one of the fastest growing and changing sectors in American theatre
Theater in the United States
Theater of the United States is based in the Western tradition. Regional or resident theatres in the United States are professional theatre companies outside of New York City that produce their own seasons.- Early history:...
.
Asian American theatre companies
East West PlayersEast West Players
East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1965. As one of the nation's first Asian American theatre organizations, East West Players today continues to produce works and educational programs that give voice to the Asian Pacific American...
(EWP) was founded in 1965 by a group of actors who wanted to fight racism in the entertainment industry by creating non-stereotypical roles for Asian Americans. Led by the Japanese American actor Mako
Mako (actor)
, born , was an Oscar- and Tony-nominated Japanese actor. Many of his acting roles credited him simply as Mako, omitting his surname. -Early life:...
, the actors at EWP first saw theatre as a venue to showcase their talent for television and film producers and directors, but by the early 1970s, the EWP began to actively sponsor original plays by Asian Americans. Frank Chin
Frank Chin
Frank Chin is an American author and playwright.- Life and career :Frank Chin was born in Berkeley, California, but was raised to the age of six by a retired Vaudeville couple in Placerville, California. At six his mother brought him back to the San Francisco Bay Area to live in Oakland Chinatown...
, who founded the Asian American Theatre Workshop, argued that Asian American actors needed Asian American playwrights to create believable roles and to end dependence on the mainstream acting industry. Theatrical Ensemble of Asians (TEA) began in 1974 on the campus of the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
and later became Northwest Asian American Theatre (NWAAT). In addition to acting and playwriting, TEA emphasized community activism and became a cultural center for Asian Americans in Seattle. Pan Asian Rep
Pan Asian Repertory Theatre
Founded in 1977 and led by Artistic Producing director Tisa Chang, the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre is a New York based theatre group that explores the Asian American experience. Pan Asian Rep provides professional opportunities for Asian American artists to collaborate and create unique works...
, on the other hand, emerged as part of Off-Off Broadway theatre in 1978. Founded by Tisa Chang, Pan Asian Rep became the representative Asian American theatre company in New York City and introduced Asian American plays to the East Coast audiences. In the 1980s and 1990s, Asian American theater companies were founded with more diverse purposes and styles. Many companies such as Ma-Yi Theater Company
Ma-Yi Theater Company
Ma-Yi Theater Company is a professional, not-for-profit, Obie Award and Drama Desk Award winning theater company based in New York City that was founded in 1989. Ma-Yi Theater is headed by Executive Director Jorge Ortoll and Artistic Director Ralph Peña...
(New York City) and Lodestone Theatre Ensemble
Lodestone Theatre Ensemble
Lodestone Theatre Ensemble is a non-profit Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1999. It is a membership-driven organization....
(Los Angeles) focus on producing new, original plays. Others companies' agendas departed greatly from the original four: National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) in New York City, for instance, stages canonized Western plays with all Asian cast, and Mu Performing Arts
Mu Performing Arts
Mu Performing Arts is a Minneapolis based theater group formed in 1992 by Rick Shiomi, Dong-il Lee, Diane Espaldon, and Martha Johnson. It is composed of Theater Mu, which features stage performances and Mu Daiko, a taiko drumming ensemble...
in Minneapolis incorporates Asian theatrical styles to specifically cater to local audiences.
Asian American actors
American theatre in the 1950s was dominated by popular BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
shows that featured Asian characters and settings, and shows such as The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
and Flower Drum Song
Flower Drum Song
Flower Drum Song was the eighth stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It was based on the 1957 novel, The Flower Drum Song, by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee. The piece opened in 1958 on Broadway and was afterwards presented in the West End and on tour...
provided employment to a number of "Oriental" actors. However, such roles were blatantly stereotypical and racist. Moreover, all major roles were cast with white actors with facial makeup resembling an "Oriental". The popularity of Asian themes in Broadway shows did not continue through the 1960s, and "Oriental" actors found themselves unemployed in large numbers. While they were out of work, they observed white actors getting cast in Asian roles. "Oriental" actors began to protest this practice by creating activist organizations and creating work for themselves. The term "Asian American actor" emerged in the late 1960s when the Asian American Movement challenged the racist history of the label "Oriental." By the 1970s, Asian American actors were well organized in their fight for jobs and positive images for Asians. In New York, an activist group called Oriental Actors of America regularly protested openings of shows with white actors playing assians. In Los Angeles, East West Players became the most visible venue for Asian American actors to find acting employment and to participate in activism. The company's proximity to Hollywood attracted many ambitious and talented Asian American actors to Los Angeles. By the mid-1990s, over 75% of all Asian American actors had acted on the stage of EWP.
In the early 1990s, the controversy over the musical Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
surfaced when Asian American actors protested the casting of the British actor Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
for the role of the half-Vietnamese Engineer in the Broadway production of the musical. The protest was led by many prominent Asian American theater artists, including actor B. D. Wong, the artistic director of Pan Asian Rep, Tisa Chang, and the playwright David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang is an American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S.He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at the Yale School of Drama and Stanford University...
. Asian American actors initially lost their fight when the musical opened on Broadway with Pryce, but in the long run, the controversy generated many positive aftereffects for Asian American actors. The musical's ten-year run on Broadway employed an unprecedented number of Asian American actors, and the role of the Engineer was subsequently cast with Asian American actors.
Asian Americans have won the fight for employment, and while some roles for them stereotype those of Asian descent, Asian Americans are increasingly winning roles that respect and tolerate Asian Americans from the majority of producers who are realizing the reality of racial bigotry and ignorance that brings hostility and degradation to those oppressed.
Asian American playwrights
Before the 1960s, Asian American plays were virtually non-existent, but various initiatives, including East West Players' playwriting contest, encouraged Asian American writers to adapt their short stories and novels into plays and to write original plays. The first wave of Asian American playwrights included Wakako YamauchiWakako yamauchi
Wakako Yamauchi is a Nisei Asian American female writer. Her plays are considered pioneering works in Asian American theatre.- Biography :...
, Momoko Iko, Edward Sakamoto, Hiroshi Kashiwagi
Hiroshi Kashiwagi
Hiroshi Kashiwagi is a Nisei poet, playwright and actor. For his writing and performance work on stage he is considered an early pioneer of Asian American theatre.-Biography:...
and Frank Chin
Frank Chin
Frank Chin is an American author and playwright.- Life and career :Frank Chin was born in Berkeley, California, but was raised to the age of six by a retired Vaudeville couple in Placerville, California. At six his mother brought him back to the San Francisco Bay Area to live in Oakland Chinatown...
. Common themes in plays by first wave writers were Asian American history, generational conflict, cultural identity, cultural nationalism, and family history. In 1972, Frank Chin's The Chickencoop Chinaman
The Chickencoop Chinaman
The Chickencoop Chinaman is a 1972 play by Frank Chin. It was the first play by an Asian American to have a major New York production.-Story:...
became the first Asian American play to be produced in New York City, and since then, Chin has become a major spokesperson for Asian American playwriting. He founded the Asian American Theatre Workshop in San Francisco to promote original playwriting by Asian Americans. The most commercially successful Asian American play was David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang is an American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S.He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at the Yale School of Drama and Stanford University...
's play M. Butterfly
M. Butterfly
M. Butterfly is a 1988 play by David Henry Hwang loosely based on the relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a male Peking opera singer....
, which became the first Asian American play to be produced on Broadway and won the Tony Award for Best Play
Tony Award for Best Play
The Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...
in 1988. The success of M. Butterfly created a national interest in Asian American plays, and regional theatre companies around the country began to produce plays by Hwang and other second wave Asian American writers such as Philip Kan Gotanda
Philip Kan Gotanda
Philip Kan Gotanda is an American playwright and filmmaker. Much of his work deals with Asian American issues and experiences.- Biography :...
and Velina Hasu Houston
Velina Hasu Houston
Velina Hasu Houston, born Velina Avisa Hasu Houston, is an award winning American playwright, essayist, poet, author, editor, and screenwriter...
. Such interest also promoted the publication of first anthologies of Asian American plays in the early 1990s. The mainstreaming of Asian American plays increased with works by third wave writers such as Diana Son, Sung Rno, Han Ong
Han Ong
Playwright and novelist Han Ong is both a high-school dropout and one of the youngest recipients of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant. Born in the Philippines, he moved to the United States at 16...
, Chay Yew
Chay Yew
Chay Yew is a playwright and stage director who was born in Singapore. As of 2007 he lives in New York City. As of July 2011, he becomes Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago.-Career:...
, Rick Shiomi
Rick Shiomi
Rick Shiomi is a Japanese Canadian playwright, stage director and taiko artist. He is a founder and currently the Artistic Director of the Minneapolis, Minnesota based Asian American theater company, Mu Performing Arts.-Early life:...
and Ralph Peña
Ralph Peña
Ralph Peña is a founding member and the current artistic director of Ma-Yi Theater Company, an Obie Award and Drama Desk winning Asian American theatre group based in New York City...
. These third wave writers felt that race and ethnicity were mere jumping off point in addressing multifaceted experiences of being an Asian American and wrote about any topic that interested them. All three waves of Asian American playwrights continue to produce works that define not only Asian American theatre, but also American theatre and global theatre.
Alternative theatre and performance
One of the pioneers of Asian American alternative theatreExperimental theatre
Experimental theatre is a general term for various movements in Western theatre that began in the late 19th century as a retraction against the dominant vent governing the writing and production of dramatical menstrophy, and age in particular. The term has shifted over time as the mainstream...
is Ping Chong
Ping Chong
Ping Chong is an American contemporary theater director, choreographer, video and installation artist. He was born in Toronto and raised in the Chinatown section of New York City...
, a Chinese American
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
multimedia artist
Multimedia artist
Multimedia artists are contemporary artists who use a wide range of media to communicate their art. Multimedia art includes, by definition, more than one medium, therefore multimedia artists use visual art in combination with sound art, moving images and other media...
who has created avant-garde theatre since the early 1970s. He has used visual effects, sound control, dance, mime, spectacle, and other methods based on the sensibilities of Cantonese opera. Another form of alternative theatre is solo performance
One man show
The term one-man show often referred to comedian, who would stand on stage and entertain an audience. With the advent of feminism, words and phrases such as one-woman show and comedienne have entered the modern-day lexicon....
. Often written, directed, and acted by one performer, solo performance has provided many Asian American artists with the opportunity to voice their experiences. Solo performers, such as Dan Kwong
Dan Kwong
Dan Kwong is an American performance artist, writer, teacher and visual artist. He has been presenting his solo performances since 1989, often drawing upon his own life experiences to explore personal, historical and social issues. He is of mixed Asian American heritage...
, Denise Uyehara, Jude Narita, and Lane Nishikawa
Lane Nishikawa
Lane Nishikawa is an American actor, filmmaker, playwright and performance artist. He is Sansei ; and his work often deals with Asian American history and identity issues. He is widely known for a series of one-man shows, including Life in the Fast Lane, I'm on a Mission From Buddha, Mifune and...
, have toured with their shows and have introduced Asian American theatre to audiences in all parts of the country. Group performances have also toured, especially to colleges and universities. Often comedic, group performances, such as Slant Performance Group and the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, have been popular amongst college students, many of who saw Asian American performers onstage for the first time. Recently, spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
groups have become the newest form of Asian American theatre and performance.
Asian American Theatre Conference and Festival
In June 2006, Next Big Bang: The First Asian American Theater Conference was held in Los Angeles, spearheaded by East West Players. It was followed in June 2007 with the first ever National Asian American Theatre Festival, held in New York City. The two-week festival was co-organized by Pan Asian Rep, Ma-Yi Theater and NAATCO. From June 11-June 24, work from more than 35 emerging and established artists and groups from across the nation was presented in over 13 venues around New York City's boroughs.Shaping Our Voice & Vision: the 2nd National Asian American Theater Conference took place June 5–7, 2008, in Minneapolis, co-hosted by Mu Performing Arts and Pangea World Theater.
See also
- List of Asian American theatre companies
- Asian Americans in arts and entertainmentAsian Americans in arts and entertainmentAsian Americans have been involved in the entertainment industry since the first half of the 19th century, when Chang and Eng Bunker became naturalized citizens. Acting roles in television, film, and theater were relatively few, and many available roles were for narrow, stereotypical characters...
- Portrayal of East Asians in Hollywood
Additional reading
- Eng, Alvin, ed. Tokens?: Asian American Experience on Stage. New York: The Asian American Writerss Workshop, 1999.
- Kondo, Dorinne. About Face: Performing Race in Fashion and Theater. New York: Routledge, 1997.
- Kurahashi, Yuko. Asian American Culture on Stage: The History of the East West Players. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1999.
- Lee, Esther Kim. A History of Asian American Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2006.
- Lee, Josephine. Performing Asian America: Race and Ethnicity on the Contemporary Stage. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997.
- Liu, Miles Xian, ed. Asian American Playwrights: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.
- Shimakawa, Karen. National Abjection: The Asian American Body Onstage. Durham, Duke University Press, 2002.
Information
- Asian American Theatre Revue
- National Asian American Theater Festival
- 2006 conference Next Big Bang website
- 2008 conference Shaping Our Voice & Vision website
- Asian-Nation Sociological Overview of Asian American Writers, Artists, and Entertainers