Friday, September 01, 2023
Yangtze Rep to Present All-Asian, Women-Led Bilingual Play Inspired by Arthur Miller Directing Death of a Salesman in China
Playbill: Yangtze Rep, in association with Gung Ho Projects, will present the world premiere of Jeremy Tiang's Salesman之死, an all-Asian, women-led bilingual play inspired by the 1983 China production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman that was directed by the playwright.
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It was very interesting to read about the production of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller that will be at the Connelly Theatre this Fall. This production will be very different because it will be put on by a completely Asian cast and crew, female lead, and it will be multilingual. I was really excited to read about this because in 2021, only 6.3% of actors in Broadway and nonprofit Off-Broadway productions were Asian, according to Playbill making this group severely underrepresented. It is not common for shows to be spearheaded by women or have non-white producers as well. I think shows like this are very important because it also makes theatre more accessible for more people. English is absolutely not the only language spoken in the United States, so it is very refreshing to hear that a production is bilingual, opening up the audience to more people of diverse backgrounds. I think that theatre is supposed to build community by telling impactful stories, and this is a great example of that. It does a good job of showing that themes within these tales can be universal and one does not have to check a certain box to find a piece relatable, encouraging or inspiring.
I'm incredibly impressed by the outreach of this show. The line about how we often trap ourselves with the boundary of this country resonates with me a lot. Understanding the effort and work that must have gone into this show is incredible, because gathering many people from all over the world is not an easy feat. As a half-asian person, hearing about a fully asian cast show is very heart warming. I enjoy the fact that someone is focusing on bringing a culture often ignored by the live theater into focus. Bilingual performances also open up hundreds of possibilities that were restricted earlier. By including more than one language you are touching the hearts of many people who are bilingual and very often don't see the other part of their lives represented in a live theater space. I hope to see many productions like this one in the future, that continue to push boundaries that keep us from creating more interesting and diverse art.
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