Pan Asian Repertory Theatre


The Pan Asian Repertory Theatre is a New York City-based theatre group that explores the Asian-American experience and provides professional opportunities for Asian-American artists to collaborate. Pan-Asian was founded by Tisa Chang in 1977 "with her salary from six months of The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel with Al Pacino," who continues on today as artistic director. Chang established the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre as a resident company at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in 1977, with the intention of popularizing Asian-American theater. Mel Gussow of The New York Times noted that "Before Pan Asian Rep, Asian Americans had severely limited opportunities in the theater… heartened by Ms. Chang's example, similar companies have sprung up around the United States." For over thirty years, Pan Asian has created opportunities for underrepresented artists to stage modern classics that give insight into the Asian-American experience.
Specializing in intercultural productions of new Asian-American plays, Asian classics in translation, and innovative adaptations of Western classics, some of the works Pan Asian has presented included:
Pan Asian has staged early works of writers including Momoko Iko, Wakako Yamauchi, Philip Kan Gotanda, R. A. Shiomi, and David Henry Hwang.
Pan Asian Rep had a season in the West End Theatre in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, and in 2007 returned to the Julia Miles Theatre to revive their classic productions with a large cast. Major programs include the Senior Artist Resident Ensemble, the Theatre For Youth program, touring and residencies domestically and internationally, the Staged Reading Series directed by Ron Nakahara, and Actor Training Workshops taught by Ernest Abuba.
The company has been invited to several national theater festivals including Edinburgh in 1988, Singapore in 1992, Cairo and Johannesburg, and the Xi Havana Theatre Festival in 2003. From June 11–24, 2007, Pan Asian served along with Ma-Yi Theater and NAATCO as a Co-Steering Committee member of the first National Asian American Theatre Festival. The two-week festival brought work from more than 35 emerging and established artists and ensembles from across the United States to 13 venues around New York City.
Pan Asian celebrated its 39th anniversary in 2016, and continues a cycle of Masterpiece productions. The cycle began in 2007 with The Joy Luck Club, a play by Susan Kim adapted from the novel by Amy Tan, directed and choreographed by Tisa Chang. In 2008, Pan Asian presented the first professional theatrical production of The Missing Woman, written and directed by Nguyen thi Minh Ngoc. The play was performed in Vietnamese and English, and enabled diverse audiences to explore themes of social justice and human rights through the lens of traditional Vietnamese art forms. The Missing Woman represented Pan Asian's efforts towards international artistic collaboration.
Shogun Macbeth opened the 2008 season. Adapted by John R. Briggs from Shakespeare's Macbeth, the epic production combined medieval history with traditional Japanese techniques of Noh, Kyogen, and Samurai sword fighting, while retaining the complexity of Shakespearean language. Ernest Abuba, who had acted in the title role 22 years prior, directed the 2008 production. In the fall of 2009, the company produced Imelda, a new musical based on the controversial figure of Imelda Marcos. Pan Asian Repertory Theatre and East West Players collaborated on this production, which was directed by Tim Dang, with the book by Sachi Oyama, lyrics by Aaron Coleman, music by Nathan Wang, and choreography by Reggie Lee.
In spring 2010, Pan Asian produced the East Coast premiere of Ching Chong Chinaman, a comedy by Lauren Yee and directed by May Adrales. The work used the pejorative jingle to examine common assumptions about identity and culture. Pan Asian continued their relationship with Vietnamese audiences and artists with 2011's "Vietnam Project II: Past and Present". This included productions of Nguyen thi Minh Ngoc's We Are, about Vietnamese women who work or marry abroad, and Derek Nguyen's Monster, about a Vietnamese-American detective in search of a missing child and his past. The company's 35th anniversary season included Shanghai Lil's by Lilah Kan with music by Louis Stewart, a musical about the nightclub scene in San Francisco's Chinatown just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor; and Mayank Keshaviah's Rangoon, a world premiere about a family of Indian immigrants pursuing the American Dream.
For their 41st season starting in 2017, Pan-Asian Rep featured the show Daybreak by Joyce Van Dyke, which features the Armenian Genocide in the 1920s. If asked why Armenia, Chang replies: "Because Pan Asian is all of Asia and Polynesia. And I also feel the Middle East needs to be represented. It’s a very affirming play and, again, a story seldom told. If anything, history tends to hide traumatic periods, so I think that it’s a great service we do presenting these stories."