E-Book Overview
This anthology of work by three Asian American women playwrights Wakako Yamauchi, Genny Lim, and Velina Hasu Houston features pioneering contemporary writers who have made their mark in regional and ethnic theatres throughout the United States. In her introduction, Houston observes that the Asian American woman playwright is compelled 'to mine her soul' and express the angst, fear, and rage that oppression has wrought while maintaining her relationship with America as a good citizen. The plays are rich with cultural and political substance and have a feminist concern about women's spirit, intellect, and lives. They portray Asian and Asian American women who challenge the cultural and sexual stereotypes of the Asian female. Yamauchi's two plays deal with how easily a country can dishonor its citizens.In "12-1-A," a Japanese American family is incarcerated during World War II in an Arizona camp where Yamauchi herself was interned. "The Chairman's Wife" dramatizes the life of Madame Mao Tse Tung through the lens of events at Tien An Men Square in 1989. Lim's "Bitter Cane" is about the exploitation of Chinese labourers who were recruited to work the Hawaiian sugar cane plantations. In "Asa Ga Kimashita" ("Morning Has Broken"), Houston explores a Japanese woman's interracial romance in postwar Japan and the influence of traditional patriarchy on the lives of Japanese women. These plays will entertain and enlighten, enrage and profoundly move audiences. With honesty, imagination and courage, each grapples with the politics of life. Author note: Velina Hasu Houston teaches in the University of Southern California's School of Theatre and is the author of "Tea", one of the most produced plays about the experience of Asians in America.
E-Book Content
The Politics ofLife
In the series Asian American History and Culture edited by Sucheng Chan
Four Plays by
Asian American Women
Edited and with an introduction and commentaries by
VELINA HASU HOUSTON
Temple University Press [iiiii] PHILADELPHIA
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Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122 Copyright © 1993 by Velina Avisa Hasu Houston All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, or television review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the authors. Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that the plays in this volume, being fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America and of all countries covered by the International Copyright Union, the Pan-American Copyright Convention and the Berne and Universal copyright Conventions, and of all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations, are subject to royalty. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the right of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of the plays by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the authors as listed below:
12-1-A and The Chairman's Wife copyright © Wakako Yamauchi Wakako Yamauchi, 15922 Halldale Avenue, Gardena, California 90247.
Bitter Cane copyright © Genny Lim Genny Lim, New College of California, 766 Valencia Street, San Francisco, California 94110 Asa Ga Kimashita (Morning Has Broken) copyright © Velina Avisa Hasu Houston (Agent) Mary Harden, Bret Adams, Ltd., 448 West 44th Street, New York, New York 10036 (Attorney) Michael C. Donaldson, Esq., Dern and Donaldson, 1901 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 400, Los Angeles, California 90067
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