Background
Asian-American theatre emerged in the 1960s and the 1970s with the foundation of four theatre companies: East West Players in Los Angeles, Asian American Theatre Workshop (later renamed Asian American Theater Company) in San Francisco, Theatrical Ensemble of Asians (later renamed Northwest Asian American Theatre) in Seattle, and Pan Asian Repertory Theatre in New York City. The four companies have provided the resources and opportunities to actors, writers, directors, designers, and producers to pursue and define Asian-American theatre for almost four decades. By the end of the 1990s, the number of Asian-American theatre companies and performance groups grew to about forty. Asian-American plays have appeared on Broadway and regional theatres and have received major awards both nationally and internationally. Asian-American actors have used Asian-American theatre companies as their artistic bases while pursuing careers in the mainstream theatre, film, and television. Alternative forms of theatre and performance such as multimedia performance, solo performance, and spoken word have also shaped Asian-American theatre. In the beginning, participants of Asian-American theatre were mostly of East Asian descent, but in the 1990s and the 21st century, more artists of Southeast Asian and South Asian backgrounds have joined the community and have made Asian-American theatre one of the fastest growing and changing sectors in American theatre.
Read more about this topic: Asian American Theatre
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)