hereandnow theatre at Stony Brook University

hereandnow theatre company is an Asian-American group based in L.A. that tours the country telling stories of Asian-America. Their purpose seems to be to promote the autonomy of Asian-American storytelling (especially Asian-Americans whose families come from the Pacific Rim). Most of the stories they told are sourced from their company members, who are younger, so they deal with very modern issues. The Japanese-American internment camps and the brutality of Japanese colonialism in the Far East did make brief appearances, as did exodus from Laos and a Native Hawaiian myth, but the stories generally seemed geared towards a college age demographic. Sex was a major theme (including one encounter that went on long past the audience getting the point – I was surprised they didn’t end up taking their clothes off), as was identifying themselves in their own words.

It’s interesting to note the degree to which these two things go together – autonomy of body and autonomy of narrative. The dominant culture constructs narratives regarding Asian bodies, particularly Asian woman bodies – the geisha girl, the Japanese school-girl. Some American men have an “Asian fetish”, which presupposes a severely limited view of Asian sexuality. By pushing for a broader range of narratives regarding what it means to be Asian, hereandnow theatre actively promotes a level of autonomy in the Asian-American community from stereotypes that the mainstream (read “white”) community would impose upon them, especially in the Hollywood film industry.