Theater and Cultural Politics for a New World: An Anthology

253 Pages·2016·13.127 MB·English

by  Chinua Thelwell (ed.)

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Theater and Cultural Politics
for a New World
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6 Theater and Cultural Politics for a New World presents a radical re-examination
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5 of the ways in which demographic shifts will impact theater and performance
3 culture in the twenty-first century.
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1 Editor Chinua Thelwell brings together the revealing insights of artists, schol-
t ars, and organizers to produce a unique intersectional conversation about the
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] transformative potential of theater.
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g Opening with a case study of the New WORLD Theater and moving on to a
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D fascinating range of essays, the book looks at five main themes:
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S • Changing demographics
a, • Future aesthetics
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rn • Making institutional space
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f • Critical multiculturalism
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a • Polyculturalism.
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y Chinua Thelwell is an assistant professor of History and Africana Studies at
it the College of William and Mary. His research focuses on the racial politics of
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er performance in the Atlantic world.
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Theater and Cultural Politics
for a New World
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e An anthology
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g Edited by Chinua Thelwell
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First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
7 © 2017 selection and editorial matter, Chinua Thelwell; individual
1 chapters, the contributors
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2
y The right of Chinua Thelwell to be identified as the author of the
r editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters,
a
u has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
r Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
b
e
F All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
6 reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
1 or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
5 photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
3
: retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
8
1
t Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
a or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
o] explanation without intent to infringe.
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e British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
i
D A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
n
a Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
S
Names: Thelwell, Chinua editor.
a, Title: Theater and cultural politics for a new world : an edited
i
n anthology / Chinua Thelwell.
or Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY :
if Routledge, 2016.
l
a Identifiers: LCCN 2016014897| ISBN 9781138929760 (hardback) |
C
ISBN 9781138929777 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315680989 (ebook)
of Subjects: LCSH: Theater—History—21st century. | Theater—
y Political aspects. | Theater and society—History—21st century.
it Classification: LCC PN2190 .T54 2016 | DDC 792.09/05—dc23
s
r LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016014897
e
v
i
n ISBN: 978-1-138-92976-0 (hbk)
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ISBN: 978-1-138-92977-7 (pbk)
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y ISBN: 978-1-315-68098-9 (ebk)
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d
e Typeset in Times New Roman
d by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
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Contents
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6 Notes on contributors viii
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5 Acknowledgments xi
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1 Introduction 1
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a CHINUA THELWELL
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Di PART I
n New WORLD Theater 7
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a, 1 Fertile ground: how New WORLD Theater began 9
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r ELIZABETH MÉNDEZ BERRY
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Ca 2 Steps towards a new world 22
of ROBERTA UNO
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si 3 “Imagining” and “restaging” otherwise: New WORLD Theater,
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v memory work, and multiculturalist critique 38
i
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U CATHY J. SCHLUND-VIALS
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b 4 Third World studies 47
d
e GARY Y. OKIHIRO
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l 5 All the stage’s a world: the organization of international,
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w multicultural, and global theater companies in the US 60
o
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ESTHER KIM LEE
6 Homes at the ends of the WORLD: repertoires of access
and agency out of New WORLD Theater (1979–2009) 73
PAUL BONIN-RODRIGUEZ
vi Contents
7 Imagining a “New WORLD”: Asian American women
playwrights’ archives in western Massachusetts 82
LUCY MAE SAN PABLO BURNS
PART II
7 New world futures: changing demographics,
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0 polyculturalism, and Future Aesthetics 97
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u 8 Beyond demographics: Cornerstone, New WORLD,
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e INTAR and the Theater of the Possible 99
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6 MICHAEL JOHN GARCÉS
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3 9 Who tells your story? Hamilton, Future Aesthetics, and Haiti 109
:
8
1 CHINUA THELWELL
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o] 10 Life as primary text: Youth Speaks through the new world 122
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e JAMES KASS
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n 11 Hip Hop as pedagogy: the Hip Hop Theatre Initiative 135
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a, DANIEL BANKS
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or 12 An uncharted persistence: alternative minoritarian theater
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li in austere Chicago 152
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JASMINE MAHMOUD
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t 13 Whose space is it anyway? 168
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r WILL POWER
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U 14 A future for American Indian theater? 173
[
y HANAY GEIOGAMAH
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e 15 Culture, ethnicity and the inherent theater of hip-hop 183
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a
o JOSEPH SCHLOSS
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o 16 We are not alone: a community of common values 198
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MARK VALDEZ
17 Tear the pages out 210
LÊ THI DIEM THÚY
Contents vii
18 “Not a prophecy, but description”: rethinking
multiculturalism in the “post-racial” moment 218
JEFF CHANG
Afterword 230
7 BILL RAUCH
1 Index 232
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Contributors
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6 Daniel Banks is a theater director, choreographer, and educator. He holds a PhD
1 in Performance Studies from New York University and is the editor of the
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3 anthology of Hip Hop theater plays, Say Word! Voices from Hip Hop Theater.
:
8 He is also co-director of the arts and services organization DNAWORKS and
1
t founder of the Hip Hop Theatre Initiative.
a

]
o Elizabeth Méndez Berry is an award-winning journalist whose work has
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e appeared in the Washington Post, Vibe, and The Nation. She has provided com-
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mentaries on music for NPR, NBC, CBC, and CNN en espanol. She serves as
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a an adjunct professor of Music Journalism at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of
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a, Recorded Music.
i
n Paul Bonin-Rodriguez is a playwright and performer who has created and toured
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f plays and multi-disciplinary performances since 1992. He is an assistant pro-
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a fessor in the Performance as Public Practice Program at the University of
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f Texas at Austin.
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y Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns is an associate professor in the Asian American
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s Studies Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the
r
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v author of Puro Arte: Filipinos on the Stages of Empire.
i
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U Jeff Chang currently serves as Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity
[
y in the Arts at Stanford University. He is the author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop:
b
d A History of the Hip-Hop Generation and Who We Be: A Cultural History of
e Race in Post-Civil Rights America.
d
a
o Michael John Garcés has been the Artistic Director of Cornerstone Theater
l
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w Company in Los Angeles since 2006. A director and playwright, he has cre-
o ated work for theaters across the country and internationally. He is a company
D
member of Woolly Mammoth Theater Company in Washington DC, and has
collaborated extensively with the Living Word Project in San Francisco.
Hanay Geiogamah is a professor of theater in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and
Television and is the founding artistic director of the acclaimed American Indian
Dance Theater. Since 1997 he has served as principal director of Project HOOP, the
Contributors ix
national Native American theater advocacy program. His career as a playwright,
director and producer in the theater began in 1972 at La Mama Experimental
Theater in New York City. He is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma.
James Kass is an award-winning writer, educator, producer and media maker.
He is the Founder and Executive Director of Youth Speaks. He’s creator and
Co-executive Producer of the seven-part HBO series Brave New Voices.
7
1
0 Esther Kim Lee is Associate Professor in the school of Theatre, Dance, and
2
y Performance Studies at the University of Maryland. She is author of A History
ar of Asian American Theatre and The Theatre of David Henry Hwang and editor
u
r of Seven Contemporary Plays from the Korean Diaspora in the Americas.
b
e
F lê thi diem thúy is a writer and solo performance artist. She is the author of the
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1 novel The Gangster We Are All Looking For. Her solo performance theater
5 works, Red Fiery Summer, the bodies between us, and Carte Postale have
3
8: been presented at—among other venues—the Whitney Museum of American
1
t Art at Philip Morris, the International Women Playwrights’ Festival, the New
a
] WORLD Theater, and the Marfa Theater Company.
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e Jasmine Mahmoud is the Postdoctoral Fellow of Inequality and Identity in the
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D Program in American Culture Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.
n Her work examines how aesthetic and geographic experiences entangle,
a
S attending to how race, neoliberal policy, and urban displacement interact with
a, contemporary performance.
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n
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o Gary Y. Okihiro is Professor of International and Public Affairs and Director of
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i
l the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University, New
a
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York. He has authored eleven books, and is widely considered to be a founda-
f
o tional scholar in the field of Ethnic Studies.
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si Will Power is an award-winning playwright and performer. He is currently on
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e the faculty at the Meadows School of the Arts/SMU (Southern Methodist
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ni University), and serves as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in
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Residence with the Dallas Theater Center.
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b Bill Rauch is the founding Artistic Director of Cornerstone Theater. He is the
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e current Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
d
a
o Cathy J. Schlund-Vials is Professor in English and Asian American Studies at the
l
n University of Connecticut-Storrs. She is author of two monographs: Modeling
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o Citizenship: Jewish and Asian American Writing and War, Genocide, and
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Justice: Cambodian American Memory Work. She is director of the Asian and
Asian American Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut.
Joseph Schloss is a major voice in the burgeoning field of Hip-Hop Studies.
He is the author of Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop and
Foundations: B-Boys, B-Girls and Hip-Hop Culture in New York.