Asian American Theater

Asian American theater, when it is by Asian Americans for Asian Americans, is necessary direct action against an industry that is still resisting diverse voices. Theater has become another tool to uphold racist and classist systems because the mainstream is controlled by those in power. Augusto Boal writes that, “The dominant art will always be that of the dominant class, since it is the only class that possesses the means to disseminate it." When the dominant class has control over the means of artistic production, it means that they control what audiences see. In regards to theater today, the white majority controls the mainstream, so the majority of the media we consume is considered palatable for white audiences. Historically, this control also means that most protagonist roles go to white actors, and people of color are often reduced to supporting characters, if given roles at all. In a 2015 study by the Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, researchers found that Asians and Asian Americans were given the least amount of roles in the top 800 movies from 2007-2015 .

#OscarsSoWhite or #HollywoodSoWhite? From: Smith, Stacey, et al. “Inequality in 800 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBT, and Disability from 2007-2015.” Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative. Sept 2016

Historically, there has been a noticeable lack of representation in theater and in the mainstream media for Asian and Asian American communities. It is still common to find examples of whitewashing or yellowface in the media. These two terms, whitewashing and yellowface, are not interchangeable, but are often discussed in conjugation with the other. Whitewashing, in regards to Asian representation in the media and onstage, is the act of taking a historically Asian character and making them white. A recent example of whitewashing is the 2017 movie, Ghost in the Shell. The movie was a recreation of a Japanese anime, and there was a lot of controversy surrounding the casting of white actress, Scarlett Johansson, as the lead role, instead of a Japanese woman as depicted in the anime.

Yellowface is when a white actor blatantly acts as a person of Asian descent, usually enhanced with the use of stage makeup and exaggerated accents. For example, in the 1956 film, The Conqueror, John Wayne – known for his roles in cowboy movies – portrayed Genghis Khan, a historic figure in Mongolian history and founder of the Mongol Empire.

Both in Hollywood and in mainstream television shows, yellowface is still prevalent as comic relief. Andrew Lam of New America Media expresses concern that yellowface still goes largely unpunished, by saying, “Asians, furthermore, remain foreign enough within U.S. pop culture that such depictions go largely un-castigated – unless there is a public reaction strong enough to force the offenders… to apologize."

Other than promoting racist stereotypes, whitewashing and yellowface steal Asian narratives and make them white. Also problematic is the historic idea of what constitutes accomplished mainstream Asian American representation onstage. Many Asian and Asian American stories have been overshadowed with productions written by white playwrights on their ideas of Asian stories. Plays like Miss Saigon presents audiences with an “Asian experience,” which are written by white men, and does not constitute Asian American theater.

This is an excerpt taken from my thesis on Asian American theater as a tool for social justice education. It has yet to be made publicly available.