Thursday, August 6th
Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, Graduate Center, CUNY

(note: during concurrent sessions on Thursday, we will use room C201, on the commons floor of the Graduate Center, one flight down from the Segal.  You can reach C201 by the elevators.  You will need to show your conference badge as ID to get to the elevators.)

9:00-9:30      Registration

9:30-9:45      Welcome

                      John B.Weinstein, AAP Board President

9:45-11:15      Politics, Gender, and Modernism: Challenging Traditions in Post-Independence Indian Drama

                      Chair: Boris Daussá-Pastor, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Bethany Wood, University of Wisconsin – Madison

"The Configured Figure: Bodies and National Identity in the Plays of Manjula Padmanabhan"

Neil Kristian Scharnick, Carthage College in Kenosha, WI

"Tower of Gold" and "Herbs of Light": Ashadh ka ek din as Mohan Rakesh's Portrait of the Artist

Aralene D. Callahan II, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"Present Absence and Absent Presence—An Analysis of Satish Alekar's The Dread Departure and Begum Barve"

Erin Hood, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"Thinking Through the Revolution: Critically Minded Political Theatres of Jana Natya Manch and The Black Arts Movement"

11:15-11:25 Coffee Break

11:25-12:55  Concurrent Sessions

12:55-2:00    Lunch Break

2:00-3:30      Intercultural Presentation

Chair: David Jortner, Baylor University

Barbara Thornbury, Temple University

"'America's Japan,' the Performing Arts, and The Japan Society, New York"

Stephen Harrick, Bowling Green State University

"Compromising and Upholding Tradition: The Dragon Legend Acrobats at Epcot Theme Park"

Samuel L. Leiter, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, CUNY

"The Mikado v. the Mikado: A Problem of Lese Majeste on the Japanese Stage." 

Guanda Wu, Miami University

"Mei Lanfang's Tour in the U. S and 'May 4^th' Intellectuals' recognition of Xiqu" 

3:30-3:40      Coffee Break

3:40-5:10      Concurrent Sessions

5:10-5:20      Break

5:20-6:40      Round Table: "Teaching /Incorporating Asian Body and Voice Training"

Dongshin Chang, University of Guelph

Boris Daussá-Pastor, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Deborah Klens-Bigman, New York University

Tara McAllister-Viel, University of Exeter

Helen Moss, IchiFuji-kai Dance Association

Kirstin Pauka, University of Hawaii at Manoa                        

6:40-8:00      Dinner Break

8:00               Bharata Natyam Concert- Free and Open to the Public

                      Krithika Rajagopalan, Natya Dance Theatre

Krithika Rajagopalan is the featured dancer for Natya Dance Theatre, one of the premier Bharatanatyam companies in the United States.  She and the company have won numerous awards while performing in the US and India.  They have created works recently with Lookingglass Theatre and Yo Yo Ma.

Rajagopalan will perform pieces both from the traditional Bharanatyam repertory and new compositions. Rajagopalan and Mark Kittlaus of the Shenandoah Conservatory will demonstrate and briefly discuss their intercultural-performance work using the opening parados from Aeschylus' The Persians.

Friday, August 7th
Hunter College, CUNY

NOTE: Friday events will take at the Hunter College campus in room 535, 536, and 537 of the Hunter North building. Please enter Hunter College on 69^th st. between Lexington and Park Avenues. Take the elevators on your left to the fifth floor. On exiting, go left and follow the signs. See room numbers for each session indicated by HN535, HN536, HN537.

8:30-9:00      Registration

9:00-10:20    Workshop: "What Makes a Character in Kunqu and Nihon Buy??"

HN535

Dongshin Chang, Coordinator: University of Guelph

Yee-Ping Lok, The Kunqu Society

Anna Chen Wu, The Kunqu Society

Fujima Nishiki-no (Helen Moss), IchiFuji-kai Dance Association

Fujima Nishiki-mie (Mieko Takahashi), IchiFuji-kai Dance Association

10:20 -10:30 Break

10:30-12:00- Concurrent Sessions

Alexander Y. Huang, Penn State University

Yoshiko Fukushima, University of Oklahoma

"Comedy in Wartime Japan: Furukawa Roppa's

War Propaganda Plays"

12:00-1:15    Lunch Break

1:15-2:45      Concurrent Sessions

2:45-2:55      Break

2:55-4:25      Emerging Scholars Adjudicated Panel

HN537

Chair: Kathy Foley, University of California, Santa Cruz

Aragorn Quinn, Stanford University

"A Brutus for the People: Julius Caesar in Meiji Japan"

Mariko Anno, Tokyo University of the Arts

"Noh Flute, Mnemonics and Oral Transmission"

Lisa Reinke, The Graduate Center, CUNY

"The Legacy and Function of Puppetry in Japanese Animation"

4:25-4:35      Coffee Break

4:35 -6:05     Round Table: "Diasporic Asian theatres: Theory, Practice, and History"

HN537

Josephine Lee, University of Minnesota

Neilesh Bose, University of North Texas

Esther Kim Lee, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Sudipto Chaterjee, Loughborough University

Aparna Dharwadker, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sean Metzger, Duke University

6:05-6:10      Short Break

6:10-6:45      AAP Honoree

HN537

Ralph Samuelson, Asian Cultural Council

Introduction: Claire Conceison, Duke University

7:15               Schmoozefest Dinner

                      This year's dinner honors Ralph Samuelson.

                      The Evergreen Café, 1288 First Avenue (At 69th Street)

Saturday, August 8

Hunter College

10:30-12:30  Executive Board Meeting

HN 522

We are extremely grateful to the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center and the Theatre Department, Hunter College, CUNY for their help and support of this conference.

AAP Associated Events at ATHE Conference

Sunday, August 9th

Marriott Marquis Hotel, Times Square

11:30-1:00    Association for Asian Performance Membership Meeting

                      Place: Brecht, 4^th Floor.

1:45-3:15      Asian Theatre Journal Lecture by Farley Richmond, University of Georgia "Superhighway Free-for-all: Publishing Electronically on Indian Theatre."

                      Place: O'Neill, 4^th Floor.

Marriott Marquis Hotel, Times Square

Monday, August 10th

9:45-11:15    "Innovation and Integration: New Research and Scholarly Challenges in Asian Theatre." A presentation and discussion of new/emerging scholarship in Asian theatre as well as a discussion of challenges and resources for artists/scholars interested in the field.

Discussants:      Neilesh Bose, Tufts University.

Loren Edelson, CUNY.

Julie Iezzi, University of Hawai'i.

David Jortner, Baylor University.

Jonah Salz, Ryukoku University.

John Weinstein, Simon's Rock of Bard College.

Kevin Wetmore, Loyola Marymount University.

Claudia Orenstein, Hunter College, CUNY

Place: Herald, 7^th Floor.

11:30-1:00      "Orang Putihs Teaching Southeast Asian Theatre in American Classrooms"

Three orang putih, or 'white folks' as referred to in Bahasa, theatre educators reveal their experience of incorporating Southeast Asian theatre forms in their classrooms. Co-coordinators:

Kathryn Moller, Fort Lewis College.

"Using the Wayang to Inspire and Ground Student Creations in Shadow Work."

Beth Osnes, University of Colorado.

"Presenting on the Malaysian Wayang Kulit"

Atemis Preeshl, Loyola University in New Orleans.

(Title unavailable)

Place: Soho, 7^th Floor

5:30-7:00        "Rethinking 'Asian Theatre' "

This session seeks to interrogate the notion of "Asian Theatre" as a cohesive area of study, and to explore alternative theoretical and pedagogical frameworks.

Co-chair:         Frank Episale, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Participants:     Boris Daussá-Pastor, The Graduate Center, CUNY (co-coordinator)

                        "Rethinking 'Asia' in Theatre Studies"

                        Siyuan (Steven) Liu, University of British Columbia

                        "Colonial Modernity and Asian Theatre Studies"

Shawn-Marie Garrett, Barnard College, Columbia University;

Keena McDonald, Barnard College, Columbia University; and

Amy Trompetter, Barnard College, Columbia University

 "Beyond Asia: Towards a World Theater Pedagogy."          

                         Respondent:   Eng-Beng Lim, Michigan State University     

                        Place: Brecht, 4^th Floor.

Marriott Marquis Hotel, Times Square

Tuesday, August 11th

8:00-9:30        "Non-Traditional Approaches to Traditional Japanese Theatre Training and Performance." This panel investigates how past participants of intensive Japanese traditional theatre training programs have "risked innovation" by building on their "non-traditional" training to develop innovative performance projects and pedagogy.

Lydia Fort, City College, CUNY

"The Spirit of Ningy? Jôruri: Intensive Bunraku Training."

                        Matthew R. Dubroff, Hampden-Sydney College

                        "No Training for the Actor."

Julie A. Iezzi, University of Hawai'i

"When Tradition Meets Academic Institution and Body Battles Brain."

Place: Belasco, 5^th Floor

8:00-9:30        "The Performance of Human Rights in 'Asia' "

This panel attempts the intervention of re-looking at the discourse of human rights through various performances in film, theatre, and protests staged from the point of view of various segments of the Asian Diaspora.

Cathy J. Schlund-Vials, University of Connecticut

"Screening the Past and Projecting Feminist Politics, Cinematic Transnational Justice and Healing in Socheata Pocuv's 'New Year Baby.'"

Elizabeth W. Son, Yale University

"Entangled Justice: Military Sexual Slavery, Tribunals and Trojan Women."

Melissa Wansin Wong, Graduate Center, CUNY (also Chair)

"Re-creating Tibet: The performance of community at the Anti-Beijing Olympics Protest in NYC 2008."

Place: Cantor, 9^th Floor.

1:45-3:15        "Bodies-At-Risk and In-Between Nation and Nature: Rapturous Organs, Mermaids, and Pet Love in "American" and "Asian" Performance"

Bodies in performances and media, radical corporeality's that  fracture "nation and nature" and push the questions of subversion and responsibility further, risking either suppression or inversion of stated identities.

John D. Swain, California State University, Northridge.

"Female Bodies Translated Across the Strait of Korea: The Power of Corporeally Translated Women in Jeong Ui-shin's Plays."

Lisa Jackson-Schebetta, University of Washington.

"Striated Bodies: Erotic Human/Non-Human Animals in New York City's New Burlesque."

Katherine Mezur, University of Washington.

"On the Adorability of Anime Animals: Creature Features, Clones of the Heart, and Girl Pets."

                        Place: Marquis Ballroom Salon B, 9^th Floor.

3:30-5:00        "Flamenco, Fans, and Figure Skaters:  Clash and Convergence in Asian and Western Movement Forms"

Japanese dance, Spanish flamenco, Chinese figure skating, and more come together in this exploration of the aesthetic and institutional issues inherent in bringing together dance and movement from different cultures.

John B. Weinstein, Bard College at Simon's Rock

"Localized Aesthetics in Internationalized Sport:  The Rise of Chinese Figure Skating."

Helen E. Moss, IchiFuji-kai Dance Association

"Slow Dance on the Edge of a Fan: Traditional Asian Aesthetics in a Non-Traditional Western World."

Boris Daussá-Pastor, The Graduate Center, CUNY

"Kathakali-based movement for Western dance/theatre curricula."

                        Place: Marquis Ballroom Salon B, 9^th Floor.

3:30-5:00        "Re-Debating Interculturalism: Re-Looking the Intersections Between Performance Studies and Asian Performance"

This round-table seeks to explore current issues in the intersections between Asian performance and performance studies starting with a re-looking at the contested term of 'interculturalism', and how it pertains to current scholarship in both fields.

Chair:              Melissa Wansin Wong, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Participants:     Eng-Beng Lim, Michigan State University

Katherine Mezur, University of Washington

Haipin Yan, Cornell University

Walter J.H. Hsu, Cornell University  

                        Place: Gotham, 7^th Floor.

 AAP Associated Events at the Segal Theatre Center

Monday August 10th and Tuesday August 11th

2:00 - 8:30 p.m. 

Place: Martin E. Segal Theatre Centre, Graduate Center, CUNY

Indian Diaspora Plays: 

Panels and Staged Readings of Plays from the US, UK, Canada, and South Africa

Organized by Neilesh Bose

Visiting playwrights: Aasif Mandvi, Rana Bose, Rahul Varma, Kriben Pillay, Rukhsana Ahmad, Ronnie Govender

Invited Guests:

Geeta Citygirl, SALAAM Theatre

Dipankhar Mukherjee, Pangea World Theatre

Gita Reddy, New York Theatre Workshop

Vijay Mathew, Arena Stage

Ian Morgan, Associate Artistic Director, New Group Theatre

Paul Knox, Director and Playwright

Roxine Heinz-Bradshaw, Samuel French, Inc.

Talks by Neilesh Bose and Ronnie Govender

Day 1, Aug. 10, 2009

2:15 - 3 p.m., Opening Address, Neilesh Bose, South Asian Diasporic 

Performance Ecumenes

Schedule of Sessions (Readings + Discussions):

UK

3 p.m - 3:30 p.m., Song for a Sanctuary, Rukhsana Ahmad

3:30 - 4:30 p.m., Discussion

1.5 hour dinner break

SOUTH AFRICA

6 - 7:30 p.m.

The Lahnee's Pleasure, Ronnie Govender

Looking for Muruga, Kriben Pillay

Working Class Hero, Kessie Govender

7:30 - 8:30 p.m., Discussion

8:30 - 10:00 p.m., Reception

Day 2

2:15 - 3 p.m., Keynote Address, Ronnie Govender, South African Theatre 

after Apartheid

USA & CANADA

3 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Bhopal, Rahul Varma

Death of Abbie Hoffman, Rana Bose

15 minute break

4:15 - 4:45 p.m., Sakina's Restaurant, Aasif Mandvi

4:45 - 5:15 p.m., Chaos Theory, Anubav Pal

15 minute break

5:30 - 6:00 p.m., Merchant on Venice, Shishir Kurup

1.5 hour dinner break

7:30 - 8:30 p.m., Discussion

8:30 - 10 p.m., Reception