The Northwest Asian American Theatre, originally Theatrical Ensemble of Asians and then Asian Exclusion Act, was an

Asian-American theatre Asian American theatre is theatre written, directed or acted by Asian Americans. From initial efforts by four theatre companies in the 1960s, Asian-American theatre has grown to around forty groups today. Early productions often had Asian themes o ...

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

from 1972 to 2004.

University of Washington

In 1972, a group of students on the campus of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

started a theatre group called the Theatrical Ensemble of Asians. It was founded by a teacher named Stanley Asis in the school’s Ethnic Cultural Center, with its original members including students of Asian and Hispanic descent.Lee, Esther. A History of Asian American Theatre. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Even in its humble beginnings, the theatre gave students an opportunity to explore their heritage and perform plays written by other Asian Americans; those who were not Asian American had an opportunity to be involved in a diverse group and celebrate other’s culture. In a later reflection by Judith Nihei, who would become the creative director for the group, “Asians weren’t being cast in mainstream productions. So we figured we’d better do our own productions.”

Multi-media centre

After graduating, the group remained militant and moved into a theatre in a multi-media center within the

Seattle Chinatown-International District Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of N ...

, adopting the name of the Asian Exclusion Act (AEA). To some, this name seemed indelicate. But to those involved and who celebrated its name, it was a way to throw the injustice that had been served back into the face of those who had oppressed them previously. As a popular playwright for the theatre

Frank Chin Frank Chin (born February 25, 1940) is an American author and playwright. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Asian-American theatre. Life and career Frank Chin was born in Berkeley, California on February 25, 1940; until the age of s ...

stated, “the name reflects this Asian American theatre’s responsibility to Asian American art and culture, that has been totally excluded from the pop and high culture of West Coast America.” The first play the group produced under their new name was

Momoko Iko Momoko Iko (1940–2020) was a Japanese-American playwright, best known for her 1972 play ''Gold Watch''. She was also a founding member of the Asian Liberation Organization and the Pacific Asian American Women Writers West. Life Momoko Iko was ...

's ''Gold Watch'' which focused on the discrimination building up towards the Japanese American Concentration Camps following Pearl Harbor. The majority of the plays the AEA performed focused on addressing their community's painful history and the racism they still face in society, often in a mocking or humorous way. The theatre quickly grew to be very successful, with many of its player rising to fame after: something they may not have been able to achieve without the AEA's contributions to introducing Asian American theatre.

Theatre Off Jackson

The theatre faced a multitude of difficulties, such as the funding of their original performance center, a multi-media center, being cut by the city in 1977. The actors again would not give up. The group performed out of the Nippon Kan Theatre. Around this time, the group started looking for grants from foundations, and decided to change their name to the Northwest Asian American Theatre (NWAAT).Johnson, Wayne. “Nomadic NWAAT finally has a home in Theatre Off Jackson.” Seattle Times Jan. 1987. They found a home by converting an

automobile repair shop An automobile repair shop (also known regionally as a garage or a workshop) is an establishment where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and technicians. Types Automotive garages and repair shops can be divided into following categor ...

into the Theatre Off Jackson. As then creative director Beatrice Kiyohara stated, "getting our own theatre has been a long, long struggle; the company can now only get bigger and stronger, because finally audiences will be able to find us."

Closure

The NWAAT is still considered a flagship Asian American theatre company in the Pacific Northwest, and can boast being the first of its kind in the region. Kiyohara resigned in 1993, with Judi Nihei taking over as artistic director for about five years. Over this period of time, many actors and writers left the theatre and Seattle to pursue opening opportunities in cities such as

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In 2004, the theatre performed its last play, and closed its doors.

Digitization

In 2019, the

Wing Luke Museum The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience is a history museum in Seattle, Washington, United States, which focuses on the culture, art and history of Asian Pacific Americans. It is located in the city's Chinatown-Internationa ...

received a grant to digitize old production recordings from throughout NWAAT's history. Uploading the tapes to the open source

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

, content includes audition reels, work samples required for funding requests, and full productions originally kept for archival purposes. Full productions include plays by

Wakako Yamauchi Wakako Yamauchi (October 23, 1924 – August 16, 2018) was a Japanese American writer. Her plays are considered pioneering works in Asian-American theater. Biography Yamauchi (née Nakamura) was born in Westmorland, California. Her mother and ...

Philip Kan Gotanda Philip Kan Gotanda (born December 17, 1951) is an American playwright and filmmaker and a third generation Japanese American. Much of his work deals with Asian American issues and experiences. Biography Over the last three decades Gotanda ha ...

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yell ...

, Jeannie Barroga,

Amy Hill Amy Marie Hill (born May 9, 1953) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Hill's first major role was as Yung-Hee "Grandma" Kim on '' All-American Girl'' where her character became the breakout character of the short-lived television serie ...

, and other playwrights.

References

{{coord missing, Washington Theatres in Washington (state) Asian-American theatre