In their Breaking: (Character) series, publisher Samuel French throws the spotlight on some Asian American authors. If you don’t know who they are, maybe you should read some of their plays…
On Monday, Damon Chua led off with “Asian Playwrights and Asian Characters: What’s the Deal?”
“There is a further responsibility on the part of the playwright, which is to ensure that directors and actors, who may or may not share the same background as the characters on the page, truly understand who these characters are. I have been in situations in which a director or actor completely missed the cultural nuances of one of my characters. This is nobody’s fault – no one can be expected to know everything. So I take it upon myself to clarify the cultural context. Ultimately, this is a part of the conversation every playwright should have with his or her director and/or actors anyway, and I have learned not to shy away from it. It can only result in a better production.”
On Tuesday, Kimber Lee wrote “How Does the Label “Asian American” Impact Your Work As a Playwright?”
“A playwright, any playwright, should be free to stretch right to the edge of their current capability and follow an artistic impulse where it leads. And what is exciting these days is to see a whole wave of fabulous Asian American playwrights who are writing fearlessly from their hearts and guts, in the widest possible range of form and content. Whatever stereotypical expectations might exist, that monolith is being fiercely challenged by this generation of Asian American playwrights….”
On Wednesday, Michael Golamco puts out “Born Into It: The Internal Conflict of ‘Asian American’ and ‘Writer’”
“I need to chase after stories that knock my socks off — even if they’re not Asian specific. But at the same time, my work is a reflection of who I am. I’m the son of immigrants. I’m a kid that grew up different and apart from everyone else. And inevitably, everything I write is ingrained with that Asian American experience.”
On Thursday, Madhuri Shekar muses on “Writing for Two Audiences“:
“So when we say “mainstream” American audiences, we’re probably referring to LORT audiences, right? And I can say, from my limited experience so far, that they abso-effing-lutely are ready for new content, for stories beyond their immediate cultures and worlds. Like every other audience, they want to see something real, strong, and true with a clear voice and vision…..
” Where I think the delay is happening is with artistic leadership and theatre criticism. Even as theaters take a “risk” and program not just playwrights of color, but plays that privilege the perspectives of characters of color, mainstream theatre criticism can sometimes drop the ball….”
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