Asian American Theater - Asian-American Actors

Asian-American Actors

American theatre in the 1950s was dominated by popular Broadway shows that featured Asian characters and settings, and shows such as The King and I and Flower Drum Song provided employment to a number of "Oriental" actors. However, many roles were blatantly stereotypical and racist and many major roles were cast with white actors with facial makeup resembling an "Oriental". The popularity of Asian themes in Broadway shows did not continue through the 1960s, and "Oriental" actors found themselves unemployed in large numbers. While they were out of work, they observed white actors getting cast in Asian roles. "Oriental" actors began to protest this practice by creating activist organizations and creating work for themselves. The term "Asian-American actor" emerged in the late 1960s when the Asian American Movement challenged the racist history of the label "Oriental." By the 1970s, Asian-American actors were well organized in their fight for jobs and positive images for Asians. In New York, an activist group called Oriental Actors of America regularly protested openings of shows with white actors playing Asians. In Los Angeles, East West Players became the most visible venue for Asian-American actors to find acting employment and to participate in activism. The company's proximity to Hollywood attracted many ambitious and talented Asian-American actors to Los Angeles. By the mid-1990s, over 75% of all Asian-American actors had acted on the stage of EWP.

In the early 1990s, the controversy over the musical Miss Saigon surfaced when Asian-American actors protested the casting of the British actor Jonathan Pryce for the role of the half-Vietnamese Engineer in the Broadway production of the musical. The protest was led by many prominent Asian-American theatre artists, including actor B. D. Wong, the artistic director of Pan Asian Rep, Tisa Chang, and the playwright David Henry Hwang. Asian-American actors initially lost their fight when the musical opened on Broadway with Pryce, but in the long run, the controversy generated many positive aftereffects for Asian-American actors. The musical's ten-year run on Broadway employed an unprecedented number of Asian-American actors, and the role of the Engineer was subsequently cast with Asian-American actors.

Asian Americans have won the fight for employment, and while some roles for them stereotype those of Asian descent, Asian Americans are increasingly winning roles that respect and tolerate Asian Americans from the majority of producers who are realizing the reality of racial bigotry and ignorance that brings hostility and degradation to those oppressed.