September-October, 2007
BY JONATHAN ABARBANEL
Asian communities in the United States are among our nation's fastest growing minority populations, so it isn't surprising that the American theater industry has begun to pay attention on two fronts. First, little by little, we are seeing mainstream theater companies produce Asian-themed works. In Chicago, over the last two years, the Goodman, Lookingglass, Prop, Steppenwolf, and Victory Gardens theaters have mounted productions representing the stories and cultures of ancient Persia, India, Japan, and the Philippines. The second front, which drives the first, is the increase in the number of playwrights, actors, directors, designers, composers, and producers who self-identify as Asian-American. You will find them within the mainstream and also organizing and running Asian specific theater companies, such as Rasaka Theatre Company, Silk Road Theatre Project, and Stir Friday Night, among several others here in Chicago.
An organized theater movement began to reach critical mass in 2006 with the Next Big Bang: the First National Asian American Theatre Conference, held in Los Angeles. Something unexpected occurred at the Next Big Bang, however, with the spontaneous emergence of a smaller bang, a specifically South Asian caucus. The smaller bang solidified this past July 19–22 in Chicago as Silk Road Theatre Project hosted Desi Drama: the First National South Asian American Theatre Conference, with principal funding from the Ford Foundation and the American Institute for Pakistan Studies. The invitation-only meeting brought together 30 South Asian American playwrights, performers, directors, and administrators chiefly from New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Greater Los Angeles.
Asian? Asian-American? South Asian American? Too confusing? Too much sushi or noodles or curry on your plate? The question is: Do you like Pan-Asian restaurants that serve a bit of everything? Or do you prefer restaurants that are specifically Korean or Japanese or Chinese or Thai or Indian (disregarding the regional variations within each category)?
The participants in Desi Drama expressed the view that South Asian stories are rarely produced either by mainstream theaters or most Pan-Asian theater companies. South Asia––a term coined by the U.S. Department of State in the 1960s––refers to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Desi Drama participant Dipankar Mukherjee, artistic director of Pangea World Theatre (Minneapolis), says, "I feel outside. We are not what most people think of as Asian or even Asian-American…We have to become such a strong voice within American theater that the larger voice has to invite us into the conversation."
And so Desi Drama had a full plate. Some discussions focused on concerns facing all non-profit theaters, such as audience development, fundraising, and brand identity. Other topics were far more specific, such as casting difficulties encountered by South Asian American actors, Bollywood stereotypes, and the social responsibilities of South Asian American artists. The dominant topic of Desi Drama blended the politics of art with pure aesthetics to underline choices that must be made by individual artists and theater companies.
For example, some participants are committed to South Asian classical theater and dance, while other participants born or raised in the United States acknowledged their unfamiliarity with Old World traditions and languages. "There comes a point where we don't know the names of the people doing theater before us, whether in the United States or other countries," shares Susan Sherine Kanga, a Los Angeles-born writer and educator. For Kanga and those like her, their artistic mandate is not Old World classics, but tales of the South Asian American Diaspora. Playwright Shishir Kurup (Cornerstone Theatre Company, Los Angeles) frames the question, "How much of our story is the new American story, and who will come hear us? And who gets to tell it?"
Indeed, another point of discussion was the acceptability of plays telling South Asian American stories that are not written by South Asians. The Chicago production of The Masrayana, winner of two Joseph Jefferson Citations, was cited as an example several times. Produced in 2005 by Prop Thtr and Rasaka Theatre Company, it tells a contemporary Indian story, but was written by Euro-American William Kovacsik.
Participants also discussed the ultimate purpose of organizing a South Asian American theater coalition. Is it to build funding and audiences for specifically South Asian entities playing largely to South Asian audiences? Or is it to use artistic and audience clout to gain entrance to mainstream theater, as African-American and Latino theater artists have done? Participants said the potential for developing a South Asian audience is largely untapped, especially among recent immigrants. Speakers noted that South Asian Americans are the wealthiest minority group in the United States, but have not organized themselves to affect politics or culture. One result, observed Dipti Patel (League of Chicago Theatres), is that non-South Asians are making judgments based on limited and often inaccurate knowledge. "They say to me, 'Well, the South Asian audience isn't culturally experienced.' There is a dialogue about us outside this room."
Desi Drama decided to hold a second National South Asian American Theatre Conference in 2009 in combination with a festival of work by participating artists and companies. An umbrella organization will emerge in the next six months with a founding membership of 10–15 theater companies. The aesthetics and missions of the members may differ, but all are regarded as legitimate––topics for discussion rather than argument. The larger prize––serving and promoting South Asian American artists and audiences––remains a unified goal.
The Chicago participants in Desi Drama included artists and administrators representing the Eclipse, Goodman, Rasaka, and Silk Road theater companies, the League of Chicago Theatres, and the Chitrihar Cultural Academy.