Asian American Theatre Company: UNDER THE RAINBOW

Under the Rainbow is a duo of one-acts which revisits familiar Philip Kan Gotanda territory. The first of the one-acts, Natalie Wood Is Dead, is actually a companion play to Yankee Dawg You Die, and focuses on two women, a mother and daughter rather than Dawg's two men, and their experiences in the Hollywood acting scene.

"Under the Rainbow seems to be a piece that would connect to both the older and younger audiences," says Sean Lim, AATC's artistic director. "I found the vision of seeing the older mother tell her daughter to essentially 'suck it up and act tough' to be a great twist on the Asian American female. Instead of the dragon lady who pushes her daughter to do well in school, we have a situation where the daughter is the one trying to convince her mother how bad the industry is."

Rainbow's second piece, White Manifesto, a monologue by a privileged white male who has a penchant for Asian women, is certain to get some major reactions. "People may not agree with everything that is said, but it will give the Asian American community a chance to see what goes through the minds of some white men," says AATC's Lim. "It's a little voyeuristic ...but very essential if we are to understand the discontents [of those white men]. Remember, it was a bunch of discontented white teenage males who committed that violent hate crime in the Sunset [in June 2003] on the Asian American youths. For that reason, this play is important across generations. We may think racism is only an older person's problem. But evidence proves the contrary. Racism has been reborn and reintroduced to our younger generation. We need to recognize that and start talking about it."

While Rainbow confronts racism in the 21st century, two more of Gotanda's works currently in development and headed for world premieres, Manzanar: An American Story and After the War, return to the Japanese American internment. The former is a multi-media, multi-layered collaboration with renowned luminaries, including Kent Nagano, Robert Wilson, David Benoit, Naomi Sekiya, Jean-Pascal Beintus, Kristi Yamaguchi and George Takei; the latter is another dramatic first, this time a sprawling look at post-war life for returning internees in San Francisco's Japantown during the early 1950s.

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	PLAY INFO: World Premiere! Under the Rainbow by Philip Kan Gotanda February 24 - March 12, 2005 Thursdays @ 8 PM Fridays and Saturdays 7PM and 9PM Off-Market Theater 965 Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94103 Ticket Prices: General: $25 Student/Seniors: $12.50 Under the Rainbow is a duo of one-acts which revisits familiar Philip Kan Gotanda territory. The first of the one-acts, Natalie Wood Is Dead, is actually a companion play to Yankee Dawg You Die, and focuses on two women, a mother and daughter rather than Dawg's two men, and their experiences in the Hollywood acting scene. "Under the Rainbow seems to be a piece that would connect to both the older and younger audiences," says Sean Lim, AATC's artistic director. "I found the vision of seeing the older mother tell her daughter to essentially 'suck it up and act tough' to be a great twist on the Asian American female. Instead of the dragon lady who pushes her daughter to do well in school, we have a situation where the daughter is the one trying to convince her mother how bad the industry is." Rainbow's second piece, White Manifesto, a monologue by a privileged white male who has a penchant for Asian women, is certain to get some major reactions. "People may not agree with everything that is said, but it will give the Asian American community a chance to see what goes through the minds of some white men," says AATC's Lim. "It's a little voyeuristic ...but very essential if we are to understand the discontents [of those white men]. Remember, it was a bunch of discontented white teenage males who committed that violent hate crime in the Sunset [in June 2003] on the Asian American youths. For that reason, this play is important across generations. We may think racism is only an older person's problem. But evidence proves the contrary. Racism has been reborn and reintroduced to our younger generation. We need to recognize that and start talking about it." While Rainbow confronts racism in the 21st century, two more of Gotanda's works currently in development and headed for world premieres, Manzanar: An American Story and After the War, return to the Japanese American internment. The former is a multi-media, multi-layered collaboration with renowned luminaries, including Kent Nagano, Robert Wilson, David Benoit, Naomi Sekiya, Jean-Pascal Beintus, Kristi Yamaguchi and George Takei; the latter is another dramatic first, this time a sprawling look at post-war life for returning internees in San Francisco's Japantown during the early 1950s. Home \| News \| Calendar \| Directory \| Library \| Plays Copyright 2005, Roger W. Tang Questions? Email