Yellow-Faced Coolies and Exotic Geisha: The Portrayal of Asians in American Theatre and Their Reactions Since the inception of theatre, playwrights have used the stage to portray races different from their own, and from the majority of their audience. In the case of American theatre, these portrayals were usually done with a predominately, if not all, white cast. To get around this, various ... techniques such as black-face, yellow-face, and red-face were used to portray characters such as Africans, Asians, and American Indians. Portraying cultures they knew nothing about, many playwrights re...

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... for my personal taste, Trying to Find Chinatown by David Henry Hwang and Reverse Transcription by Tony Kushner create a similar statement through the playwrights' exaggeration of stereotype and lack of plot resolution that people's knowledge of themselves in the contemporary world is constantly being covered up and locked ... Benjamin leaves Ronnie to his violin and steps downstage to perform a monologue to the audience about how he was, in truth, also an Asian American, his full name being Benjamin Wong. Adopted by Chinese parents at a young age, he was visiting New York in search of hi...

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... the increasing migration of educated and socially conscious Blacks, New York's Harlem neighborhood developed into the political and cultural center of black America. Harlem created a growth of African-American culture which gave rise to a community exploding with art, politics, energy, and racial pride. In particular the entertainment business gave Blacks the opportunity of expressing themselves, escaping from ... higher ranks. Thus, there were many black actors but hardly any black scriptwriters or directors. The journalist and drama critic Theophilus Lewis voiced his opinion that natio...

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... Blacks were allowed in the military, but they were segregated into their own units, as was allowed by Plessy v. Ferguson. The African American units were not allowed into combat, despite great contributions made by black units in previous conflicts. The military justified keeping blacks off the front ... of New York City. Harlem gave birth to a movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. Black novelists, poets, painters, sculptors, and playwrights set about to create works rooted in their own culture. They no longer emulated the styles of white Europeans and Americans. The most famous ... ...

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• Grade Level: High School