The Politics Of Life (Asian American History & Cultu)

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 laborers 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. In the series Asian American History and Culture, edited by Sucheng Chan, David Palumbo-Liu, Michael Omi, K. Scott Wong, and Linda Trinh Võ.

The Politics of Life (Asian American History & Cultu)

Literature & Fiction

Houston, Velina

Dramas & Plays

Temple University Press

States 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. This work portrays Asian and Asian American women who challenge the cultural and sexual stereotypes of the Asian female.

In this pathbreaking volume, Velina Hasu Houston gathers together eleven plays that speak in the hybridized, unique American voices of Asian descent -- and often dissent. These writers resist the bigotry that attempts to target them solely as people of color as well as the homogenizing tendencies of a multiculturalism that fails to recognize the varied make-up of Asian America. Anthologized for the first time, these plays testify to the rich complexity of Asian American experience while they also demonstrate the different styles and thematic concerns of the individual playwrights. What are Asian American plays about? Family conflicts, sexuality, social upheaval, betrayal ... the stuff of all drama. Whether the characters are a middle-aged Taiwanese woman who is married to an Irish American and who dreams of opening a Chinese restaurant, a Chinese American female bond trader trying to survive a corporate takeover, or an ABC (American Born Chinese) gay man whose lover has AIDS, their Asian-ness is only a part of their story. As a playwright, Houston is keenly aware of the rigid formulas that often exclude writers of color and women women writers from mainstream theater. "But Still, Like air, I'll Rise" brings forth vibrant new work that challenges producers and audiences to broaden their expectations, to attend to the unfamiliar voices that expresses the universal and particular vision of Asian American playwrights.

But Still, Like Air, I'll Rise: New Asian American Plays (Asian American History & Cultu)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Houston, Velina. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Houston, Velina

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Houston, Velina. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Politics of Life (Asian American History & Cultu)

The Politics Of Life (Asian American History & Cultu)

But Still, Like Air, I'll Rise: New Asian American Plays (Asian American History & Cultu)