asian american theatre article - colorsnw
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8/10/2019 Asian American Theatre Article - ColorsNW
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rental
acil i ty," sieh
ays.
Itsart ists
hendispersed
mid
number f small-budget
heatrical
organizat ions,
The
inf astructure
isn,t here o
handle
argsr
rojects
and
ambit ions,"ays
oger
ang,
its ormer evelopment
irector.
"lt 's
very
ard or ndividual
rt ists
in generalo work ogethero build
an nst itut ion.
THE
RISEOF NICHES
Since
NWAAT owed
out of
Seatt le's
heatricalcene,
an g
(nationally
hristened
the
godfa-
therof
Asian merican
heater")
continueso don
hats
romSeatt le's
three
most
revalent
sian-
Americanheatre
ompanies:
e
is
he
current
iterary anager
f
Sexn Seatt leSiS) roductions;he
managing
roducer
f the
Pork
Fil led layers
omedyroupe;
nd
serves
n the
Repertory
ctors
Theatre
ReAct)'s
oard
of directors.
Each ompany
endso
produce
one
o three
productions
year,
which
on
its
own
s
probably
es s
visiblehan
NWAAT
adbeen t
itsheight,"
ays sieh.
ReAct
focusedn
producing
ainstream
scripts
ith
Asian nd
mult icultural
casts.
henPork
illed layers
illed
the Asian-American
ketch
omedy
niche.sangmahal
rtsKollect ive
focuses
n spoken
ord.ThenSiS
decided
o create n
episodichow
about
ontemporary
sian-American
women alled ex
n Seatt le.
THE
NEEDFORDIVERSITY
Some rt ists
elievehat
he
recent
roliferat ion
f niche nd
fringe heatre ompaniesay ult i-
vate he more
distinct
oices ssen-
tral
n
conveying
he
Asian-American
experience.
ccording
o David
Hsieh,he
managingrt ist ic
irector
of ReAct,
sian-Americanheatre
"is
more ist inct ive
han ome ther
ethnic
ypes f theatre,
ust
du e
to the huge iversity
ithin
Asian-
American/Pacif
c slanderultures.
The
apanese-American
xperience
differs
rom
theChinese,
Korean,
Tha i ,nd ian,
Vietnamese,
loined
y
thecom-
mon hread
of ethnic
diversity,ut he
specif ictories,
is-
toryand radit ions
redif ferent."
"lndia
is
a country
f
16 an-
guages
nd
3,000 ialects,"
ay s
Agastya
ohli, he eader f the
Pratidhwani
ramaWing,
which
organizedhree
ist inct ive
lays
n
2005.
"Each
languageomes ith
itsown iterature
ndheritage;nd
the
morewe canbring
o thestage,
the icher veryone'sifewould
become."
lays
ere
presented
n
Bengal ind
Hind i .
Evenndividual
sian-American
art istseem
o thrive n
range nd
contrast.
reelance
cenic nd
costume
esignerarey
Wong
integrateslements
f variety nd
contrast
n hiswork.
"
My
eacher
at
YalewasMingCho
Lee, hose
dictum
as
less
ismore. '
Butat
the
sameime,
'm also ra wn o
theoverblown,
he
antast ic,he
exotic,
he extravagant
the
most
is
best 'approach.
hinkonecould
characterize
hisasa sort f
Chinese
schizophrenia
thecultural
nd
art ist ic
istory f China
snothingf
nota bigschizophrenic."
This
psurge
n companies
it h
morediverse
epertoireeemso
be satiating
sian-Americanctors
starved
or a chanceo
perform
roles sdiverse
s hemselves.
TheSeattle
ublic heatretaged
"The
Intell igent
esignf Jenny
Chow"
byCaucasian
laywright
Rolin ones.
he
play's
ead ctor
Kimber ee ays f
her oleasan
agoraphobic
sian merican
ho
wasadopted
y Caucasian
arents,
"For
me, t's he irst ime
hat 've
ever
layed
roleof that
size nd
range nd
'm
ust
wowed bout
t. "
KathyHsieh
ehearses ith anotheractor.
A Korean
ch ld
adopted
y
Caucasian
parents,
ee
likeshe
ac t
that her ole
is
"dif ferent
in hat don't
haveo do an
accent nd
can
play
role n which
I
can
usemynormal
orce nddon't
haveo
wear kimono r radi-
t ional
lothing. he's
mericann a
casual
ay, nd t 's
not
a
huge eal
thatshe's
merican
THE NORTHWEST
DVANTAGE
LOOKING
HEAD
Actor eilani
erinobil is
uestions
"l
don't
eel hatAsian-American
he
imitat ionsf niches.
Does
th e
theatresstagnating
n Seatt le,ut
Chineseommunity
ant o see
theresa sensehatsomethings show bout apanesenternment?
missing,"ays ctor
MikoPremo,
Doeshe
Vietnameseommunity
who
rememberstudying
WAAT want o
seea showaboutPeking
asa student t
NewYorkUniversity.
opera?"
"And
there
remeetingsndcon-
ButTang
oints
o Seatt le's
versationurrounding
hat,"
advantage,
elat iveo other it ies.
TheReAct
s
collaborat ing
n
"What's
unique bout
Seatt les
(0/\4t
0/\At
0 Ht A|(0T
THELIFE5TYLE
' RI(H
ANDTHERENTs
RE
FFORDABLE
"Uncle
Hideki
TheEmpty est"
by
ocal sian-American
laywright
Jean kimoto,
hichwill
premiere
this all, long
ithSiS roductions
staging f
"Cowboy
versus
Samurai,"modern daptat ion
f
"Cyrano
de Bergerac"y
Michael
Golamco.
TheWingLukeMuseum bove
the
Theatre ff Jackson ill soon
house
theatricalpaceo be
completed
n 2008under alos-
Nakano'sirect ion. he pace
il l
specialize
n stagingtories
ro m
local
istory.
APARTMENTEATURETNDAMtNlTlEg
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iews
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$
814/MO-
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8/10/2019 Asian American Theatre Article - ColorsNW
3/3
TA C
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':Fl
CO LLEG E
www.tacomacommunitycol
ege,com
EMPLOYMENT
PPORTUN
TIES
.
Draft ing
nstructor
'
Executive
ssistant
.
F l < a 2 l \ n A a r 2 l r < f
.
F iscalTechnic ian
.
OfficeAssistant
.
Program ssistant
Equ
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p
por
un
y Em
p
oyer
that t 's
a blend
f several
enera-
t ions f each
thn
group,
ndsev-
era dif ferent
thntc
roups.
Un ke
many
ther
arts
f
thecountry,
each f
theetlrn
groups
more
wi ng
o workw
th each ther
o
get
h
ngs
one.
Kathy s
h,
who
elected
Pres ential cholarshrpo theFilm
Schoo t heUnvers
y of Southern
Ca
orn ia
o
cont inueork g n
Seat t le ,
grees .
l
th ink eat t
pro-
vides
more ppoftun
ies o
exper
ment n
a safer, ore
upport ive
atmosphere
hanNewYork
oes,"
she
ays. er rother avid
opes
Inesupponrvetmosllhere
I
co n
t
nue
"
n thenext
ecade,
d
ov e
for ReAct
o havets
own rorrre
andbecome
ru
y
self-sLrffrcrent
nd
support gso hat50 yearsromr
now t
wil lst
be around reat g
oppor-turrit
s
or
underserved
rt -
rsrs,ne
says.
W L
a l
O O p O ' l u
l
' -
6 ' P 6 - 1
l l
e
e
for oca
art ists ndnon
art ists?
"Oh,
the s t s
end1ess , "ays
Dav
Hsreh.
They
can
orne e lp
at
productions,
herbackstage
iw
h set
build g,costurres,
re w
work),
nstage
as
xtfas)r n
th e
lront
of house
ushering,
arket-
ng). hey
an ounteer
ime;
he y
canhe
p
spreadhe
word; hey
an
donateesources.
hey
an ake
classesndworkshops,hey ar r
wo[K
n a comm
leeor n.o
oL]t
byserv qon
a board A
they
need
o
do s contact
ny heatre
cornpany
nd et
usknow
hey re
interested
ndavaiiab
andwe wl r
be
g
td
Lo
et
i 'e r no
pd i
Conf idence
sohelps .
1
know
sorne ery
a entednt
noflty
ctors
who
don'taud ion or
specif roles
llecause
he
ole
oes ot
specil i
ca
y
ask
or
an As
an, says
ctor
TonRose. loaqr i rnl unders tand
wher.e
hey're oming
rom
bLrt
parl
of mew
sheshatk nd
of att i-
tudewould
sappear
"Tlre
line
etween rt ist
nu rc.rn-
ar t t , "
ays
ang,
is
the ea l rza-
t ron.
Hey ,
can o
h is . '
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