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Asian's first come to the Untied States
Asian's first immigrated to the United States in the mid-19th century to aid in the building of railroads. The most famous of these railroads being the Transcontinental Railroad, construction beginning in 1863. The majority of these Asian immigrants coming from China. After the railroads were completed in early 1869, many Asian immigrants remained in the country despite the intense racism and lack of care toward their race. Many resided in cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and many more -
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Asian theatre come to North America
After making themselves at home in many major cities across the nation, a small precursor to the Asian culture began to take home in the United States. In some cities on the west coast theatre's established for Asian audiences began to pop up. San Francisco, California was home to a Beijing Opera company up until the 1940's. After major ridicule from the community through an act called "yellowface" which is very similar to "blackface", Asian-Americans began to create their own theatre's -
The Discovery of Major Asian-American Theatre's
In the mid 20th Century Asian-Americans began to break away from popular theatres due to the depiction of their culture and race in many white dramatists plays. Asians were initially depicted as a reduced culture. For this reason, Asian-Americans broke away and began to discover their own theatres. One of these major theatres was the East West Players, founded in Los Angeles in 1965 -
The First Asian-American Written Play is Shown in Mainstream New York Theatre
Frank Chin is an Asian-American playwright, born February 25th, 1940 in Berkeley, CA. Chin is a major inspiration to all Asian-American theatre fans across the nation. He is accredited for writing the first play written by an Asian-American to be shown at a major New York theatre. The American Place Theatre produced " The Chickencoop Chinaman" in May of 1972. Chin would go on to have another play produced by the American Place Theatre later soon after. -
David Henry Hwang comes to prominence with F.O.B
David Henry Hwang Born August 11th, 1957, in Los Angeles, CA, arguably the most known Asian-American playwright/Author. Hwang first came to prominence with his play "F.O.B" (Fresh off the Boat) (1971). F.O.B won an Obie award ironically for "Best New American Play". This play explores the differences between well established Asian-Americans and newly (fresh off the boat) arrived immigrants. Hwang would go on to write many other plays such as "The Dance and the Railroad" (1981) -
M. Butterfly, and David Henry Hwang's accomplishments
David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly is said to be the most known. M. Butterfly was written in 1988 and it explores the idea that Westerners view Asians as "submissive" and "feminine". Hwang plays this by writing about a French diplomat engages in a 20 year relationship with a "female" Beijing Opera performer and doubles as a spy for the Chinese government and never realizes that he was actually a male. M. Butterfly won the 1988 Tony award. Hwang being the first Asian-American to ever do so. -
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David Henry Hwang's Recent Accomplishments
Hwang's career started with plays that focused on the Asian-American experience. However, he has since been involved in many more performances that move away from that topic and into modern day pop culture. Hwang has since wrote a series of books for musicals and operas. Hwang wrote books for performances such as Philip Glass's "1,000 Airplanes on the Roof" (1988) and Disney's Broadway musical "Aida" (2000). Hwang has also worked with Disney on "Tarzan" (2006) which was composed by Phil Collins -
Chay Yew's Works on Modern Topics
Chay Yew Born in Singapore in 1965 is another well known Asian-American playwright. Yew spent 10 years serving as Director of the Mark Taper Forum's Asian American Theatre Workshop, based in Los Angeles, CA. Yew's many plays were produced throughout America and many other Asian and European countries. Yew's play "A Language of Their Own" (1995) which tackles being gay and asian. This has only really came to fruition as of late where minorities in the U.S have came to make a huge impact. -
Chay Yew's Additional Works
Yew has created many other works that show the different experiences of Asian immigrants. A rendition of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" called "A Winters People" set in 1935 China during the Nationalist government. Yew also wrote "Question 27, Question 28" which takes on the American history from the perspective of the Japanese American women in the internment camps in America During WWII. Yew not only wrote about his own nationalities history but jumped into many cultures immigration stories. -
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The Developing Asian American Theatre Culture.
Rick Shiomi, leader at Mu Performing Art's in Minneapolis, believes that the trend for Asian-American theatre is moving in the direction of "crossover". Crossover involves "works that will be part of a larger American canon that's much more mixed" (Shiomi: The essential Theatre, p247). Some see the globalization of Asian culture in theatre spreading rapidly and allowing the west more insight on Asian culture and the history of Asian Theatre