Asian American Drama: 9 Plays from the Multiethnic Landscape [Paperback]

Hal Leonard Corp. (Creator), Brian Nelson (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

Includes: Amy Hill: Tokyo Bound; David Henry Hwang: Bondage; Velina Hasu Houston: As Sometimes in a Dead Man's Face; Lane Nishikawa and Victor Talmadge: The Gate of Heaven; Dwight Okita: The Rainy Season.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Founded in 1947, Hal Leonard Corporation has become the worlds largest print music publisher, representing some of the greatest songwriters and artists of all time. We are proud to publish titles of interest to all musicians as well as music lovers, from songbooks and instructional titles to artist biographies and instrument price guides to books about the music industry and all the performing arts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557833141
• ISBN-13: 978-1557833143
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #948,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The author is thrilled to announce his debut novel THE PROSPECT OF MY ARRIVAL has been published in trade paperback as of Sept. 16, 2011! The book is available on Amazon.

His book signing in Chicago last October 2011 was a great success. A terrific crowd and 45 books were sold. Dwight would love to be the first self-published, literary fiction writer to sell a million copies of his e-books/softcovers. (Prospect is general fiction with a sci-fi spin. It was named one of the top three books of 5,000 in the Amazon novel contest in 2008, garnering raves from Publishers Weekly in 2008 and 2009.)

Visit the website...dwightland.homestead.com

Born and raised in Chicago, Dwight Okita started his writing life as a poet with Tia Chucha Press publishing his book of poetry Crossing with the Light. He wrote personal essays for WBEZ, the Chicago affiliate of NPR, and read his poetry on Ira Glass' popular radio show "This American Life." He soon found himself reincarnated as a playwright, with produced plays including The Rainy Season, the darkly comic short play Richard Speck, and the collaboratively written The Radiance of A Thousand Suns.

To see a book trailer for his novel PROSPECT OF MY ARRIVAL,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzRMzye7Qbo

In his third and current incarnation, he finds himself writing novels. Okita continues to live in Chicago where he drinks too much coffee and is grateful for the diverse circle of friends, family, and colleagues that allow him to be part of their lives. You're welcome to visit his website at dwightland.homestead.com for Dwight's latest projects. His second novel-in-progress is called The Hope Store.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great plays marred by bad editing, January 12, 2006

By 

H. Nguyen (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Asian American Drama: 9 Plays from the Multiethnic Landscape (Paperback)

This anthology is a well-selected one. It has a wide range of plays of different styles, from romantic comedy to absurdist family drama to post-modern weirdness. In response to the reviewer (and many other critics) who say that this is not a distinctly Asian collection of plays, I say, that's mostly the point: what really separates an Asian-American playwright and a white playwright? Or the Asian-American experience against the Caucasian experience? Just what you see.

This anthology is proof positive that the Asian-American can and does do as much and as well as any other race. We are, in the end, all people experiencing the world through our own respective eyes. Maybe it just happens that a lot of people experience similar things.

The big problem, at least with the edition I read, is that there are numerous typographical errors. Sometimes a line is attributed to a character who shouldn't be in the scene. Some are misspelled (among the most egregiously, the name of Dwight Omata in the table of contents) and can be distracting to reading and, therefore, understanding the play. It is the only gripe that makes this product less than a perfect 5-star.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, every play worth reading and producing, August 20, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asian American Drama: 9 Plays from the Multiethnic Landscape (Paperback)

I am an actor, and I found this collection, just outstanding! Every play is excellent and readable even on the page. Several plays by women as well. Read and Enjoy. Then go out and put it together and act, produce and direct it! I will

0 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing really distinctively Asian here., February 1, 2002

By 

[e-mail] (Chinatown, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asian American Drama: 9 Plays from the Multiethnic Landscape (Paperback)

I could care less for any of these plays. The authors seem to try and create a new brand of Asian literature. With the plays that I've read here, I hope that won't happen. Some of them are badly written and the characters aren't all too complex. But, this book shouldn't be called "Asian American Drama." Because there isn't anything Asian about it, except that the plays were written by Asians. Aside note: David Henry Hwang writes, "Frank Chin's play The Chicken Coop Chinaman was criticized for reinforcing stereotypes of broken-English-speaking Chinatown tour guides." If you read Chickencoop Chinaman, there is no Chinatown tour guide! Anyway, If you want something distinctively Asian, you have to narrow it down somewhere. You can't make up something culturally phony like some of these authors.