By Rick Shiomi, Mu Performing Arts

About two years ago, Josephine Lee, a professor of English at the University of Minnesota, contacted me regarding the possibility of putting together an anthology of plays with Mu as one of the main connections. Since I was just coming up for air from directing the David Henry Hwang version of Flower Drum Song, I was open to something different. An anthology of plays developed and produced by Mu seemed like a wonderful way to create a lasting record of some of our work, since theater is such an ephemeral phenomenon. When Josephine spoke of contacting Temple University Press, my eyes opened up because I realized this would be not only a record but also a platform to promote the work of Mu nationally.

We sat down and went through various plays both developed and produced by Mu and also others with local or other related connections. The initial list of plays was put together then, but over the next year plays were added and dropped based upon rights, whims and how they fit the world of the anthology. We finally came up with seven plays, of which six were developed and produced by Mu. The Mu plays are Bahala Na by Clarence Coo, Happy Valley by Aurorae Khoo, Asiamnesia by Sun Mee Chomet, Sia(b) by May Lee Yang, Walleye Kid, The Musical by Sundraya Kase, R.A. Shiomi and Kurt Miyashiro and Ching Chong Chinaman by Lauren Yee. As it turned out, the lone play not directly connected to Mu is Indian Cowboy by Zaraawar Mistry.

This anthology has a good mix of local and national playwrights and also covers a broad range of issues related to Asian Americans. Bahala Na looks at the resistance of a grandmother to accepting that her grandson is gay, and how a journey into her own past helps her understand and accept him. Happy Valley focuses on the intense pressures felt by the Chinese in Hong Kong when the great transfer of control from Britain to China approached. Asiamnesia examines the issues facing Asian American women in theater and society.  Sia(b) followes a young Hmong woman seeking to understand her own identity. Walleye Kid, The Musical is the magical story of a Minnesota couple out ice fishing who catch a giant walleye that gives them a Korean baby. Ching Chong Chinaman is a comedy that takes on the stereotypes of the model minority, where assimilation has run amuck. Indian Cowboy looks at pre and post 911 events that have impacted South Asians in America.  The world of Asian America has never been so complex and dynamic, where no piece of ground is safe and assured. Yet that very danger and fluidity is what makes it so exciting.

Suddenly, two years later, the book has appeared on my desk, fully formed and looking beautiful, with a group of very intense looking Asian Americans on the cover.  It’s titled Asian American Plays for a New Generation, and I realize now that there could be no more apt title.