ABSTRACT
In the 1970s, in addition to the emergence of a number of Asian American playwrights, various collaborative projects became the nucleus for the EWP. The monumental productions that demonstrated the company’s strong sense of integrity and its tie with the community are The Asian American Hearings, which opened in July 1976, and Made in America, presented at various public parks in Los Angeles in August and September 1979. The Asian American Hearings, which was created, developed, and performed by EWP’s relatively new members, signified the triumph of the EWP as a theatre with strong political and social awareness, as well as a company of a great ensemble. Outreach programs, including the Total Theatre Ensemble and the Special Project in Foreign Languages also proved the company’s young talents, sense of commitment to the community, and its mission as an important educational and cultural organization. The 1979 production of Made in America exemplified Asian American writers and performance artists’ vision of Asian American culture as the hybrid product of diverse cultural elements. The EWP’s direction toward and emphasis on the community outreach through the collaboration productions reflect the atmosphere of the 1970s in which many young Asian Americans participated in community projects of anti-poverty and exploitation. While political and social projects worked for actual reformations of the social conditions, the EWP approached the spiritual aspect of the community, culturally feeding their various needs to codify their self identity.
