1. WEEK 4 INTRODUCTION

2. Perhaps this week’s guiding concept may best be stated in the form of a question: Can we be defined by others? Or by how others see us?

3. In Fires in the Mirror, Anna Deavere Smith sets out to paint a vivid picture of the American character by first interviewing many people who were connected with a single dramatic incident, the four days of rioting in 1991 between different racial groups in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. After collecting the interviews she selects individuals, both male and female, to portray thru her own body in a one-woman show. What results is a brilliant piece of theatre that was first seen on the stage and then on television. Two of those characters are depicted below.

4. The approach that Smith takes should remind you of the portrayal of all the characters in The Queen’s Garden by Brenda Wong Aoki. And like Emily Mann in Execution of Justice, Smith bases her play on the actual words of the people who were witness to the riots and the incidents that led up to them.

5. Continuing the theme of defining ourselves by how others see us, Lisa Jones spoofs television game shows in her witty play Combination Skin. Her thesis seems to be that “whiteness” and “blackness,” and degrees of color in between, are really just a state of mind. Compare her approach to identity to that of Frank, the abusive husband in Flyin’ West. Frank’s father was a white slave owner and his mother was a black slave. As you recall Frank could not forget the humiliation he suffered as a result of the color of his skin and the fact that on his father’s death he inherited nothing, while his white brothers were given everything.

6. In Elizabeth Wong’s China Doll, Anna May Wong’s character “teaches” a white film star how to behave like an Asian woman. The tongue-in- cheek approach to her lessons suggests that Hollywood has yet to admit the deep racism that pervades the whole entertainment business. Discussions concerning this topic are found in the videos attached to this module and help us see the issue through the eyes of Asian actresses.

7. Philip Kan Gotanda makes clear in Yankee Dawg You Die that Hollywood has yet to recognize Asian actors, indeed all actors of color, for their unique racial and ethnic identities. Discussion among Asian American actors points out some of their particular problems working in the entertainment business today.

8. And finally, in his play Disgraced, Ayad Akhtar highlights the dilemmas encountered by a Muslim American living in the post 9/11 USA. The chief character, his wife, and their friends and colleagues are swept up in debates over who defines their identities. This powerful play won the Pulitzer prize for drama in 2013 and is considered the most frequently produced work in the country today. Students last year considered it among the best plays they read all semester.