Created in the spring of 1994 under the Asian American Association, AAA Players seek to provide an Asian American presence in theater, an area in which Asian Americans historically have not been prominent. Our first production, David Henry Hwang's F.O.B., was performed in the spring of 1994. We then followed up with Velina Hasu Houston's Tea in the fall of 1994, R.A. Shiomi's Yellow Fever in the spring of 1995 and Philip Kan Gotandas Yankee Dawg You Die in the spring of 1996. Each of those productions took place at the Agassiz Theatre in Radcliffe Yard. Players has been supported through the generosity of the Office for the Arts at Harvard-Radcliffe and the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.
AAA Players soon extended our repertoire to include plays and musicals written by non-Asian Americans. By reconsidering certain works through the constructs of ethnicity, race, class, gender, and sexuality, we hope to create performances that challenge previous interpretations of well-known dramatic works and broaden conceptions of Asian American identity. Recent AAA Players productions have included Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, the musical Chess, Suzie Wong Doesn't Live Here, Bondage, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, M. Butterfly, China Doll: The Imagined Life of an American Actress, Letters to a Student Revolutionary, and Mona in the Promised Land. Students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds are welcome.
M. Butterfly
written by David Henry HwangProducer: Michelle Chen
Director: LeeAnn Tzeng
Staged: Leverett House Old Library
Date: Spring 1999M. Butterfly, by David Henry Hwang, won the 1988 Tony Award for best play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for best Broadway play, the John Gassner Award for best American play, and the Drama Desk Award for best new play.
Cast and crew of M. Butterfly.
China Doll: The Imagined Life of an American Actress
- Acting Workshop & Staged Reading
written by Elizabeth WongProducer: Flora Kao
Director: LeeAnn Tzeng
Staged: Adams Pool Theater
Date: Fall 1999Centered about love for the movies, China Doll unveils the dreams and frustrations of Anna May Wong as America's first Asian American film icon. China Doll explores the politics and passions of Anna May's desperate struggle to work as an actress and her desire to live a fulfilled life as an artist and woman in the shadow of The Crash, The Depression, World War II, and the McCarthy era.
Cast and crew of China Doll.
Letters to a Student Revolutionary
written by Elizabeth WongProducer: Flora Kao
Director: Due Quach
Staged: Loeb Experimental Theater
Date: Winter 1999This powerful and disarmingly funny play is about friendship and political awakening. Bibi, the jaded American rebel, meets Karen, a young idealistic Chinese, and embarks on a poignant 10-year correspondence cut abruptly and tragically short by the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. This bittersweet tale seeks to make sense of history, how we participate in it, and how we are overwhelmed by it.
Cast and crew of Letters: Carey Hsu (producer), Karen Tseng (props), Jaynie Chen (producer), Henry Hsieh (tech director), Flora Kao (producer), Nissara Horayangura (tech director), June Mee Kim (Karen), William Maskiell (Jonathan/Boss/Soldier), Due Quach (director), LeeAnn Tzeng (asst. director), Andy Han (Brother/Father/INS Officer), Maria Ho (Mother/Mexican Lady). Not shown: Angela Hur (Bibi), Jared Greene (Charlie/Lu Yan), Terry Chang (stage manager), Jessica Yin (stage design), Tse Wei Lim (lights), Sang Hee Moon (lights), Lin Chin (electrician), Roger Hong (sound), Kathy Huang (multimedia), David Speyer (multimedia), Kye Ye (costumes), Vicki Chou (costumes), Jen Wu (poster/program design).
Mona in the Promised Land
based on the novel by Gish Jen, adapted for stage by Terry ChangProducers: Jaynie Chen & Carey Hsu
Director: Terry Chang
Staged: Leverett House Old Library
Date: Spring 2000A deliciously quirky coming-of-age comedy set in Suburbia, America, circa 1970. Enter a crazy-cool world of hippie youth, VW vans, tie dye, temple rap sessions, Black Panthers, pancake houses, free love, and exploding cacti. Join a multi-colorful cast as they dish the dirt on friendship and romance, culture and condoms, Nietzche and nose jobs. Prepare to seductively scrutinize: Life As An American Teenager.
Cast and crew of Mona.
