31 Asian American Plays in 31 Days
#16 R.A.W. ‘CAUSE I’M A WOMAN by Diana Son
R.A.W. stands for ‘Raunchy Asian Woman,’ as the play explores stereotypes about Asian woman, such as that of the geisha, the exotic virgin, or the suicidal Miss Saigon. An all Asian American women cast perform dance, music, and spoken word. Their voices address the politics between mixed raced relationships, specifically between Asian American women and white men; quotidian and apparently minimal things like Asian hair in relation to a White woman’s hair; the experience of being a queer Asian woman; dating a Korean man from the perspective of a Korean woman, etc. All the characters come on stage and share their experiences of being Asian women in multiple shapes, forms, and identities.
While her STOP KISS is probably her most famous stage work, Diana Son gave the theatre world notice with this early effort about Asian American women (which is, sadly, still relevant today). Son later went on to an extremely successful television career, writing, producing and show running a wide swath of shows, including LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT, AMERICAN CRIME and 13 REASONS WHY.
1993 Ohio Theatre, directed by Lenora Champagne, with Kim Ima, Lisa Ann Li, Liana Pai and Elaine Tse.
Photo taken from the 1996 New WORLD Theater production (Ji Sook Lee, Dianne Suh, Linda Louise Blewitt, Lisa Hori-Garcia)
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