MTI FALL 2024

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ASIAN AMERICAN THEATER

with DR. JOSEPHINE LEE

DIVE INTO THE START OF ASIAN AMERICAN THEATER

Join professor Josephine Lee in a three-part mini course that looks at what stories are told by and about Asian Americans through the theater. We'll look at how it began in the mid-1900s—and what it was combating—the writers and artists who paved the way, and different themes that Asian American theater-makers have focused on over the decades. How does theater not only reflect but also influence Asian American histories, representation, identity, and culture? How does Theater Mu fit into a much larger environment of theater-making and arts activism?

The course is for anyone 16+ who is curious about Asian American theater. Each class will have a lecture and discussion with no required outside reading, but follow-up reading lists will be available. The registration deadline is Sept 25 at 11:59 pm CT.

GENERAL INFORMATION

DATES

Virtually on Wednesdays Oct 2, 9, & 16 from 7-8:15 pm CT.

The registration deadline is Sept 25 at 11:59 pm CT.

LOCATION

This MTI class will take place over Zoom conference calls. We will send you the link to access the Zoom call after you have registered. During class, please make sure you are in an atmosphere where you can participate in online discussions. If people would like to congregate with other students or simply need a space to take the class, the Mu Studio will be available each session (with Josephine Lee teaching remotely).

TUITION

$75. Payment is made when you register for the class. In the past, Theater Mu has accommodated certain installment payment agreements when it made sense to do so. Send payment inquiries to info@theatermu.org.

MTI endeavors to make training accessible regardless of financial capability. While two partial scholarships are available for each MTI class, they have been granted already. If you have any questions, please email info@theatermu.org.

WEEK BY WEEK

Week I will provide an overview of orientalism in theater and yellowface or brownface acting. We will look at how familiar stereotypes such as the “yellow peril” or the “butterfly” map onto Asian American history and how they became part of American popular culture. We’ll also discuss a more recent racial type, the “model minority” as it affects the perceptions of Asian Americans today.

Week II looks at the origins of Asian American theater. We will examine not only the rise of Asian American theaters on the mainland, such as East West Players (established in 1965), but also works by playwrights of Asian descent in Hawai’i such as Gladys Li and early transnational writers such as Hong Shen, Nagahara Hideaki, and Sadakichi Hartman.

Week III examines the increasing visibility of individual playwrights such as Frank Chin, Wakako Yamauchi, Velina Hasu Houston, Philip Kan Gotanda, and David Henry Hwang from the 1970s-1990s and after. We will also consider how Asian Americans such as Ping Chong, Amy Hill, and others have created distinctive experimental and solo work. This will include a discussion of contemporary work for the stage by Asian Americans, with a focus on Mu’s upcoming season (with some special guests!).

ABOUT DR. JOSEPHINE LEE

JO (she/her) is a professor of English and Asian American studies at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as well as the editor in chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature and Culture. Her books include Race in American Musical Theater; Oriental, Black, and White: The Formation of Racial Habits in American Theater, and the edited collection Milestones in Asian American Theatre.