The Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists National Conference & Festival

 

The Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists National Conference & Festival, hosted by The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Saturday 1 October to Wednesday 5 October 2016.

In Twitter, use #CAATAOSF and follow @HowlRoundTV.

Saturday 1 October

 

 

Beyond Orientalism & West and Central Asian American Artists Keynote Address
4:00 p.m. PST - 6:00 p.m. PST (Portland) / 7:00 p.m. EST - 9:00 p.m. EST (New York)
Keynote: Zeyba Rahman, Senior Program Officer, Building Bridges Program
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

Presented as part of the West and Central Asian American Artists and Beyond Orientalism Pre-Conferences, open to all ConFest attendees.
Supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Building Bridges 2016-2017 Grants Program. The Building Bridges 2016-17 Grants Program will support planning and implementation of programs or projects that engage US-based Muslim and non-Muslim populations in arts and culture experiences that advance relationships and understanding. Through this approach, the program’s larger aim is to contribute toward a more just civil society and greater well being among people.

Monday 3 October

 

 

Plenary: Neutralizing Yellow Face 
9:30 a.m. PST – 11:00 a.m. PST (Portland) / 12:30 p.m. EST - 2:00 p.m. EST (New York)    
Welcome by Randy Reyes and Mica Cole
Keynote: Roberta Uno
Panel discussion with Karan Shimakawa, Lloyd Suh; facilitated by Mia Katigbak, Artistic Producing Director, NAATCO

From New WORLD Theater to the Ford Foundation to CalArts to CAATA ConFest, Roberta Uno, one of the most brilliant artistic thought-leaders in this country, addresses this plenary through the lens of aesthetics, arts practice, cultural equity, and social justice regarding the changing demographics of America.

 

 

Union E/D/I/A Initiatives
2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (Portland) / 5:30 p.m. EST - 7:00 p.m. EST (New York)

Track: Seismic Pressure
@ Hay Patton 1A
Get up close and personal with Stage Director and Choreographer Society’s Executive Director, Laura Penn, as Tim Dang and she share their work on equity, diversity, inclusion, and access initiatives and discuss the progress and challenges from their unique vantage points. Q&A to follow.

Facilitator: Tim Dang, Artistic Director Emeritus, East West Players

Tuesday 4 October

 

 

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. (Portland) / 1:00 p.m. EST - 2:30 p.m. EST (New York)

Hear Our Voices/Sunrise Prayer
Track: Active Fissures
@ Hay Patton 2A
A case study and interactive workshop focused around the development of the new musical, Sunrise Prayer. Mary Kathryn Nagle, Native American playwright and attorney, and Leslie Ishii, director and creative partner of Sunrise Prayer, share the intersections of their legacies and collaborative process in developing this new work. Discussion will include the representation of two communities, Asian American and Native American, that today constitute the most tokenized groups in the American theatre (Yellow Face and Red Face). How do we come together and create art about both communities without replicating the harmful misrepresentations and appropriations that surround us? What protocols do we implement to ensure we don’t repeat the practices that have harmed our communities? What do we learn by working together?

Facilitators: Mary Kathryn Nagle, Playwright; Leslie Ishii, Freelance Director

Wednesday 5 October 

 

Seismic Shifts: The Pan Asian and Pacific Islander Communities Moving The Needle

9:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. (Portland) / 12:30 p.m. EST - 1:15 p.m. EST (New York)

Keynote: Karen Narasaki
Obama appointed Commissioner on US Commission on Civil Rights, Civil rights attorney, and human rights activist

Seismic Shifts Awards: Tribute to Oregon Change Makers

As one of our most visible Asian American civil and human rights activists in the US, Karen Narasaki connects social justice activism to the power of theatre and the arts and how together we move our communities and initiatives forward.  In this plenary, we also pay tribute to Change Makers of Oregon.

 

2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (Portland) / 5:30 p.m. EST - 7:00 p.m. EST (New York)

Establishing an AAPI New Play Network
Track: Seismic Pressure
@ Hay Patton 2A
Given the New Play Network’s recent model of rolling premieres and regional tours, can Asian American theatre develop National buzz for AAPI Playwrights by co-developing new works? Could a similar model be adopted amongst Asian American producers across the country? This workshop kicks off a conversation that could lead to the establishment of such a program, and that will build active coordination and collaboration between artistic directors, literary managers, playwrights, and new works programs across the nation.

Panelists:  Jennifer Chang, Director and Professor, Chalk Repertory Theatre and Head of Undergraduate Acting, UC San Diego; Jeff Liu, Freelance Director, O’Neill National Directors Fellow; Roger Tang, Artistic Director, Pork Filled Productions; Andrew Saito, Resident Playwright Emeritus, The Cutting Ball Theater

Facilitators: Prince Gomolvilas, Playwright, East West Players

The Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists (CAATA) envisions a strong and sustainable Asian American theatre community that is an integral presence in national culture—evocative of our past, declarative of our present, and innovative towards our future. Our mission is to advance the field of Asian American theatre through a national network of organizations and artists. We collaborate to inspire learning and sharing of knowledge, and resources to promote a healthy, sustainable artistic ecology.

As a collective of Asian American theatre leaders and artists, we bring together local and regional leaders to work nationally toward our shared values of social justice, artistic diversity, cultural equity, and inclusion. We hold national conferences and festivals biennially in different parts of the country, reaching as wide a range of Asian American populations and communities as possible. We survey Asian American theatre artists and organizations to find out their foremost concerns. We form alliances with other theatre groups of different affinities to advance mutual goals cooperatively and to exchange ideas and strategies.

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world's performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected], or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.