Don't Be Quiet

By Irene Rising

At the start of my second year of grad school, after a number of pep talks from Sobha and encouragement from my classmates, I knew it was time for me to start teaching. Everything was falling into place: I was going to be a substitute teacher in the NYC DOE and work as a teaching assistant with an organization that brings teaching artists to schools in the five boroughs of New York. As a TA I was placed in two schools, one in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn. On my first day in Brooklyn, the lead teaching artist began the lesson to our 4th and 5th graders while I passed around materials. One child asked me a question as I approached him. Within two seconds of hearing my voice, his jaw dropped to the floor, he looked at his laughing friend next to him, pointed at me, and loudly exclaimed, “Oh my GOD… is that a MAN???” 

I’m a transgender woman. I’ve been living my truth as a woman publicly for over five years now, and I’m no stranger to prejudice and being ostracized for my identity. I battled with misgendering, microaggressions, and a range of harassment when my social transition began while working at one of NYC’s oldest steakhouses. I’ve had traumatic incidents on trains and was mugged (in no small part because of my visible transness). But more than anything, the daily microaggressions were what used to break me. What cisgender folks may not understand is that being misgendered, deadnamed, or called out for being trans, especially in public, is triggering. Every time. It reminds me that I am different; that I am not understandable and difficult to comprehend. It isolates me. And after years of becoming the woman I am today, where I am impacted by these microaggressions far less, I find myself faced with this 4th grader’s cruelty and I am broken once again. 

Without getting into my entire story, things are easier for me now regarding my social transition. I am fortunate enough to be generally seen and accepted as a woman; the visibility of my transness has gone down from my appearance alone. The thing that “reveals” that I am trans is my deeper voice. Before the pandemic, I took vocal feminization lessons and gained the skills to speak in ways that are more “feminine” (whatever that even means). But in the last couple of years, I realized that I actually like the voice I have. The training produced one that sounds phony, like someone else. So I have come to a place in my life where I don’t mind using my natural voice, even if that means that people question my gender when I speak. I had reached a healthy and solid acceptance of this. Until I started teaching last fall.

“Children just have no filter.”

“They just say what they see.”

“Don’t let it upset you, they’re just kids who don’t know better.”

These statements do not make me feel better. In fact, they validate the comments the child made. They bring me back to the trauma of my initial transition. My thoughts spiral: 

• Even after all these years of transition, you are seen by everyone you encounter as trans (or, to put it as violently as the child, as “a man”).

• If children have no filter but adults do, this means that every adult you meet knows you are trans but just doesn’t blurt it out at you. But on the inside, everyone has the same reaction as the kid.

• Being trans distracts from anything else you have to offer. This kid wasn’t listening to your instructions as a teacher, he only cares about your gender.

These negative thoughts would be fueled further by the encounters I had with other children in the next few weeks. 

When I told my therapist about this encounter with the fourth grader, her advice was to “use that moment to educate [kids] about trans people. They can learn from you.”  I take issue with this. It is not my job to put myself in a potentially unsafe position by disclosing or confirming that I am, in fact, trans. Furthermore, I am not paid even a percentage of what it would require for me to go through the emotional labor of explaining what “trans” is to a classroom or school, and then face all the backlash that could come from parents and administration. The fact is, I am there to teach the material in the lesson plan. I am not there to go from classroom to classroom teaching “Trans 101” to every kid who triggers me. Does that sound like a helpful thing to do while actively triggered to you?

I could talk about every child last fall who asked me if I was “a boy or a girl” or a “man” or “why did I have a man’s voice” in front of the entire classroom, or about leaving a placement mid-day after sobbing in the principal’s office, but I am too exhausted. I wish I could conclude this by saying I have healed from these experiences and continue to teach kids, or that I found the way to do that and take care of my soul. But the truth is, I haven’t. I didn’t re-apply when my fall contract was up and I am not taking any sub jobs right now. I ultimately want to work with universities and teach adults in non-traditional settings, so working with kids is not necessarily required experience for my future practice.

By Irene Rising

What I can say is that I have deeply connected with teachers in this program who have taught me that cruelty from children is often targeted toward any adult, for any reason. I found genuine comfort in that sad sort of solidarity. I have grown closer to folks in my cohort who have given me tons of support as I struggled through those difficult experiences. I cherish these strong educators and see them all as invincible warriors. My dear friend and mentor Laura Bozzone recently told me, “You have so many important gifts to share with your voice. Don’t be quiet.”  I have carried her words very close to me since. 

To clarify, I still love teaching adults and am passionate about bringing the arts to students in a variety of settings. I am, of course, still a fierce advocate for arts programming for all youth, and am unwavering in my love for all children, even the ones that hurt me. I do not place anger on any specific child, but on our society that still does not understand and recognize trans people as just people. A trans teacher is in the classroom to teach, not to be interrogated about being trans. The same can be said for teachers who are subjected to racist, sexist, homophobic, fatphobic and xenophobic questioning from students and staff. 

With Laura’s words close to my chest, I quietly vow to myself to not be quiet anytime soon. I just may not pick up any sub shifts for the rest of the school year.

A Narrative Reflection on Fieldwork - Literacy and The Arts by Simon MacLean

In thinking about the role of language and comprehension as it relates to my fieldwork, I want to start with a comment I heard last week hosted by the American Indian Law Program titled: Language Rights are Human Rights: Participating in the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. In the meeting an elected official reflected on how fundamental language differences impacted the lives of Indigenous Americans as they interacted with colonial Europeans. He specifically noted that European people have central to their language the subject and predicate, while the Shawnee people have the verb central to their language. The argument he goes on to make is that if language is an example of how we think and process, how can two different languages and cultures agree on say a Treaty? Does the Treaty, as written and signed, mean the same thing to the Europeans as it does to the Shawnee? His argument is no, it can’t possibly have the same meaning. While he stopped his argument here, my understanding is that the assumption made by the Europeans writing the Treaty was that the language was very clear, X means X, Y means Y. But what if you are saying X and Y is the message that is heard? 

Extrapolating from this idea, it made me wonder: do I make the assumption that an audience, in either a theatrical production or a classroom setting, will fundamentally understand what is being said because the audience has chosen to be there? And even further, do we speak the same language, both literally and culturally? I saw both American Utopia and SIX on Broadway this spring. Both were delightful shows, are joyous, fun, and a bit rambunctious. They were essentially concerts that wove story through the music. In both locations, the demographic was primarily white, with SIX containing a much younger crowd than American Utopia’s predominantly middle age plus theatre goers. At both events there was a lot of singing along, it was clear who had spent 10’s and 100’s of hours listening again and again to the music of David Byrne (I am one of them) or the SIX soundtrack (my daughter Bea).

As I think about Byrne’s music: am I predisposed to relate to his lyrics because I ‘speak’ the same language as him: have a similar background, upbringing, and cultural references? Do I relate to the emotionality of the music? And, oh brain hurts here, is emotionality in music cultural too, i.e. subjective, or is it a universal “truth” that all people relate to regardless of background? Certainly, many of the artists I know would argue the latter. I am not sure a clear answer matters, but I think the questions are important for artists to consider: who am I making this for? Will my audience be able to understand it, or am I using cultural shorthand which will make them confused? Am I accidentally creating work that only shares the language of certain people? Lastly, are there fundamental truths that bridge cultural boundaries, which can be relied on to ensure the art, music, and/or lesson land with the entire audience? 

Certainly, as educators, we need to be intentional: am I speaking a language that my students can understand? Does the material have a cultural connection to them or will it appear arbitrary or just plain confusing to them? Rabab Ghazoul, in a long conversation with Courtney J. Bodie, on the podcast Teaching Artistry makes the claim that she believes storytelling is innate. All humans have the desire to both hear and tell stories. It is here that we have an entry point for all students, regardless of background. It is here too she says that we can chip away at a colonized educational system by valuing the stories of all students in our room. It is also a way to connect to one another through a shared experience. It seems as if Rabab Ghazoul would support the notion that there are some “truths” that exist cross-culturally. We as humans care about stories and in that shared desire we can relate to one another’s experiences. 

Educator Mauricio Salgado, also in conversation with professor Bodie, notes that balancing power is central to decolonizing education. He says that ‘naming it alone, we begin to break the power down.’ Reflecting on the idea that language and cultural norms can impact how we hear, I wonder: how do we ensure that even in the naming of a thing, that the language being used actually conveys the idea you intend to? Salgado talks about how as a child he watched his immigrant parents do Theatre of the Oppressed and Immersive theatre within other immigrant communities of a shared background. His parents would perform and then interview the audience to promote dialogue on subjects like domestic violence or mistreatment by employers. He noted that the power of the story was seeing yourself on stage and then being asked about it. Also because both men and women were a part of the dialogue, many men could hear things spoken that they might have trouble or resistance to articulating themselves.  Salgado also noted that it is important to make art interactive and to relate to communities from differing backgrounds. Does his observation then answer Ghazoul’s question?  Yes, storytelling is universal, but the story needs to relate to the audience, to speak the language that relates to their culture. 

At the Face to Face Conference hosted by the Arts in Education Roundtable, I listened to artists talk about Sustaining Music, Dance, and Language in Himalayan and Colombian Culture. The artists expressed the need to have the subjects in schools, both to ensure that cultural heritage wasn’t lost and additionally to expose children with no cultural background in Himalayan or Colombian Culture to a rich musical and theatrical history. They appeared to rely on the language of dance and music as ideas that would connect the audience to the subject, all humans speak these languages, and therefore that is an entry point in the material. 

In a roundabout way, I think the fieldwork taught me to value in education the things that are important to me as a person. Storytelling, music, and dance are all venues for connecting students to a deep understanding, of themselves, their peers, the world around them, and the world beyond them. It is important to ask though, how does this story work for this audience? Stories might be universally appealing but not every story will appeal universally. Know your audience, respect their traditions and values and ensure that those are present in a given lesson.         

How to throw spaghetti at a refrigerator (and four other lessons you'll learn through production-based education)

By Stephanie Martinez

During my time as a production student, I learned so many impactful lessons. In design classes, during production meetings, during strikes, etc. So many of these lessons not only made me a better stage manager but a better theatre practitioner as a whole.

Here are some of my favorites:

• How to offer and receive criticism

• When I was a kid, I couldn’t take criticism or anyone telling me to change the way I was doing anything without getting very upset. I didn’t know how to receive it, and I didn’t know how to offer it either at the risk of sounding mean. When I started in the production sequence of my undergrad institution's drama department, all students had to dip their toes into every aspect of design and learn to critique each other’s work. Not only this, but we had to hypothetically grade each other too, live and in real-time. This was daunting until we were given some ground rules: 1. We are always on each other's side, and we seek to make each other better. 2. We speak kindly, but we speak the truth. 3. If you don’t agree with the criticism you received, that’s fine, but you cannot ignore that it was said. This radical notion that criticism was a helpful tool as opposed to an unkind judgment completely changed my perspective. If you cannot give helpful criticism, you are not helping anyone grow as an artist. And if you cannot receive it, you are hindering your own growth. 

• Being able to see the bigger picture

• When you hole yourself into one aspect of theatre, allowing yourself to only be one thing, you fail to see the bigger picture of the production, and you fail to realize that you are only one cog in a bigger machine. Many of my friends who are actors have experienced this, and only realize it after they’ve been on a production team. At my undergrad institution, there is a production course that everyone has to complete five semesters of. All students, actors and production students alike, are assigned some job on a production team, such as a build crew, costume crew, etc. Because of this, I had many actors as my assistant stage managers on various productions. Through the process, they witnessed the radical shift that is being “on the other side of the table”. No longer running lines but on book. No longer finding their light but operating the light board. To be a part of a production in a new way like that is eye-opening, and gives you a greater appreciation for the work. I maintain to this day that everyone in theatre should be an “ASM” at some point in time, for this exact reason. But to be fair, I am a little biased. 

• Organization skills

• No matter what aspect of production you’re involved in, you need to be at least a little organized. Every aspect of production may require a different type or method of organization, but organization nonetheless. No production team or show can run efficiently without it. For example, over the summer, during a general production class that I was teaching as part of a theatre summer camp, my students’ final project was to design nearly every aspect of a fairy tale of their choosing. The set, the costumes, the props, etc. They only had five days to do this, and before we even started, I stressed the importance of planning and organization so that they could complete the project on time and stress-free. Some kept track of their progress by writing it out, some delegated a day to each aspect, and some even timed themselves on their phone so that their attention was split evenly each day. They organized their materials by their purpose, and each had their own spot on a shelf to store their work. Every student used whatever modes of organization worked best for them, and they all finished the project with flying colors. 

• Collaboration and communication skills

• When you’re on a production team, you’re going to be dealing with lots of different personalities. Sometimes the lighting designer is flakey, sometimes the director is too ambitious, sometimes the spotlight operator is constantly late. Learning how to work with all types of people and speak their personal language is a life skill that transcends the theatrical world. As a stage manager, the communication hub between everyone on the team, this is something that I’ve had to master. Being able to work well with everyone, no matter the circumstance makes you a better asset to the production as a whole. 

• How to “throw spaghetti at a refrigerator” 

• A former professor of mine who specializes in set design (Hi David!) taught me one of the most important lessons I have ever learned in my studies: the idea of throwing spaghetti at a refrigerator. Have you ever boiled spaghetti in a pot and thrown it on a surface to see if it sticks? If it does, it’s been cooked perfectly and ready to eat. If it falls to the floor, it needs to keep boiling for a few more minutes. When designing, you’ll come up with many designs that don’t work or don’t feel right, but you have to keep trying them out until one does. The same goes for directing or stage managing or even acting. The ability to keep throwing that spaghetti, to keep trying new ideas, and to not get yourself down because the spaghetti isn’t cooked yet (because after all, we have an infinite supply of metaphorical spaghetti) is an invaluable, but learned skill. 

Despite all of these wonderful attributes and skills that students gain from production experience, there is a striking lack of production opportunities for students in K-12. Take a look at your local theatre’s education offerings for the spring or fall. How many production classes do you see? How many opportunities are there for students to work on a creative team in their school’s drama club? When we only offer performance-based theatrical education opportunities, we’re not just saying that only actors are “real-theatre kids”, but we’re isolating an entire group of students who want to be involved, but don’t aspire to be front and center on stage. Give students the chance to make props, design sets and costumes, direct scenes or stage manage or operate a sound-board, and make those production-based opportunities just as available as performance-based opportunities. It’s about time we allowed the “behind-the-scenes” kids to be a little more seen. I think we’ll end up with many more plates of delicious spaghetti that way. 

Asking We Walk….We Begin..

By Shaimaa Yehia 
 
The real voyage of discovery consists not seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes” Marcel Proust
 
I worked as an Arts programs administrator for children aged 7 to 15 years in Egypt and the Arab World in non-formal settings. In parallel to my professional pathway, I explored as a hobby applied theater, creative writing, acting, drawing, filmmaking. At one point my career became a comfort zone, I was neither growing into it nor moving forward to new endeavors. At the age of 35,I lost compass of who am I, or my purpose, but the dreamer in me kept looking for different opportunities. Until I was exposed to a drama in education professional development program. During this experience, I remembered the children I worked with who struggle to acquire basic learning skills, and how those same children flourished and grow through theatre. This is when I decided to weave my interest in theater and practical experience with children and pursue an academic education. Through Fulbright Scholarship, I was able to enroll in the Educational Theater master’s program at City College of New York. I wanted to explore how theater contributes to children's academic learning skills and social and emotional development.

 
“Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember; involve me and I will understand” Chinese proverb
 
On an artistic level, I know theater engages children by playing an active role in their learning. Also, I learned that children display their engagement through being inquisitive, listening to each other, working together, expressing themselves, taking responsibility, and self-organizing themselves. I witnessed the practice of this concept through my hands-on experience at PS 161 Drama Club. On the first day of my fundamentals of teaching theater class, Wendy said we will choreograph a scene from a musical. I freaked out literally. I never directed, or acted, or was engaged in a performance-based theater. All I was thinking of what am I doing here?  In the second class, Wendy said “No one is expected to know how to choreograph, it is a learning opportunity try to push yourself out of comforter zone”. I was intrigued by this statement, it reminded me of my purpose to challenge myself and start a new journey. I decided to sit back and learn from students, teachers, and classmates how theatre engages. The first principle to motivate engagement Wendy said “We cast everyone who comes to audition”, every student will have a role on stage, off stage. I witnessed student’s ownership, care, confidence, responsibility, enjoyment, collaboration development as an ensemble at different moments with strategic adult intervention. For example, I saw how students started their rehearsal from chaos to self-organizing themselves to achieve the set goal. I saw students motivating each other at moments of disengagement. They created their discipline when they want to enjoy it. I witness the musical director building student confidence in themselves and their work. On performance day, I saw a show almost independently run by students who took the responsibility for their work. They oversaw their scenes cue sheet and backstage, reminded each other of the script line, calm down each other, help each other with the props and costumes, poking from the wings curtain to encourage their friends on stage. It was eye-opening to experience how everyone built on and worked from their strength, the directors, the teachers, and the Students.

 
PS 161 was one of the milestones in my learning journey. The diversity and the interaction with students are what made it feel like home. Walking up every Tuesday to Amsterdam hilly street in Harlem to reach PS 161 wondering what I will learn today from the children, was one of the inspiring weekly endeavors. I learned from Drama Club experience that Children are adaptable humans they strive for belonging and nurturing to flourish. This takes place when educator shows support, love, trust, direction, care, and listen to them. Through trials and errors, I have learned to be patient about my learning when experiencing a new field. I learned to trust the process, the children, and myself. I learned to let it go,  and find the balance between planning very well and following the flow of the implementation.
 
“Normality is a paved road: It is comfortable to walk but no flowers grow” Vincent van Gogh
 

Developing an understanding of the pedagogical and advocacy potentials of the theater was another milestone in my learning journey. It took place through exposure to inclusive practices through arts, Culturally responsive teaching and learning, and Social justice lens.
 
I was able to see through the inclusion lens the barriers for such practice, and opportunities theatre provides. I learned that one of the barriers to inclusion is how society perceives disability, which “ is caused by the way society is organized, its structure, values, and attitude rather than by a person limitation, impairments, and difference” (Mooney, 150). The prevailing culture of ableism and normalcy is what leads to such attitudes of prejudice or stereotype about people with disability Accordingly, It impacts educator perception of children with different learning capacities. I was also intrigued by the understanding that children don’t need equal access to the same resources in their learning. But they need equitable access to learning resources based on their individual needs. It was eye-opening to learn about different examples of theatre inclusive capacity. I was inspired by how different artists with disabilities self-advocate for themselves and their communities. I aim to foster children self -advocacy in my pedagogy. I intend to seed it through letting them experience and know YOU are different and unique not despite your difference, but because of your difference; love yourself for who you are not who they are not, or who they should be. The first step I took towards this awareness is to self-advocate for myself and ask for accommodation to my learning differences in the program, which I was reluctant sometimes to ask for. The inclusive practice lens is a call for social justice and equity. This could take place through a paradigm shift that can happen through a diversity model that stipulates human variation as a new reality and having the right to be different. At end of this learning journey, I could not but wonder what if people realize inclusive practices and human variation would be the only key for humanity's salvation and co-existence?
 
 
Like New York City, Cairo where I come from is considered one of the highest racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse cities in Egypt, and it never sleeps too. I work with multicultural learners, educators, and communities. Being introduced to the Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning (CRTL) approach, was another milestone in my learning journey.  I was first inspired by the concept from James Miles Ted-talk when he said the school can be fun and educational when children connect to what they are learning. The application of the concept was laid out by Zareeta Hammond in her CRT & Brain book who provided us with four practice areas to utilize CRTL with our students to move them from dependent to independent learners. It calls for building our awareness of who we are as educators, and who is our students. It focuses attention on building learning partnerships and establishing allyship with our students. It points out the importance of developing content that stimulates, and of relevance to the student. This can only happen through building a conducive learning environment and communities as fertile ground for students to grow. It was mind-blowing for me to learn how students' brains positively function, expand, and learning happens when geared towards these practices (Hammond, 16). In addition, it highlights the value of being self-reflective on one's work, and it starts by knowing who I am, what is my privilege, implicit bias, cultural frame of reference as an educator and human.
 
    This approach gave me tools, strategies, and new language when designing or implementing any learning experience. One of the strategies is asking myself the following questions: Who I am teaching, what is their cultural frame of reference? What am I teaching them, what are the skills and content that will let them connect, engage with, or be of relevance to them?  Why am I teaching this content or skill? What is my guiding question? How will this question help students critically and creatively think and engage? How can I differentiate the instruction to cater to the capacities of these different learners? How will instruction and learning experience help learners to learn about themselves and others who are different from them? How this learning enables and amplifies joy? CRTL as an approach is about humanizing education which makes it another quest for access, social justice, and equity.

 By the end of this journey, I realize this masters program took me through a reflective and  exploration  process of navigating educational theater as artistry, pedagogy, and approach to advocacy and social justice. My takeaway on the human level from this program is my colleagues who I have learned from just by being who they are. My professors who created meaningful learning experiences in classrooms through modeling the approaches they teach by example in their communication as educators, artists, and humans. I came to this program in search of Who am I? Today, I came out with more questions than answers, that put me in the footstep of my new journey. At age of 39 today, there are pivotal takeaways for my future self, Work from your strength, one step at a time, look for your element, identify your Why before exploring any endeavor, look for your passion, do not settle for less, less is more, life begins at the end of your comfort zone. A growth mindset is what you need for your non-linear Life Journey. Keep experimenting and exploring. Fail, Keep failing and Rise again because this is how we grow and learn. Find a life-work balance because your wellbeing matters. Remember Humans are wired for connection. Collaborate, find your mentor and your tribe. Keep working on your artistry, it is what will keep inspiring your pedagogy. Be resilient, kind, grateful, empathetic, and compassionate for yourself and others. Tell stories because this what keeps us alive.
 
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution"  Elbert Einstein
 
I believe the upcoming world needs children to think like an artist who seeks questions, solve problems, make connections, deal with ambiguity, imagine possibilities. Use these skills and creativity necessary to face the world, find their voices, understand it and perhaps change it too. I know that Educational Theater has the answer.

Nine Stories from the Avatar Series; Nine Voices from Asia

 By Lucius Seo

The Avatar series is an American animated TV show that takes place in an imaginary universe inspired by various Asian and Indigenous cultures. When I was first exposed to this show, I was surprised to find out how the content of the show included many events related to moments from modern Asian history. This list will introduce plays that provide starting points for great conversations (as well as historical contexts) when juxtaposed to such moments in the Avatar series. 

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            SPOILER ALERT**

            Please be noted that the content of this article holds spoilers for Avatar: the Last Airbender and Avatar: the Legend of Korra.

Please also be advised that the plays contain mature contents. Readers’ discretion is highly advised. Integration to classrooms with younger students must follow careful scaffolding.

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1. PAH-LA by Abhishek Majumdar

 

“AANG: The Patola Mountain range! We're almost there!” 

                                                The Last Airbender Book 1 Ep 3, The Southern Air Temple

 

Themes: Peaceful Protests, Foreign Intervention, Oppression, Gender, Free Tibet

            Contents Warning: Sexual Implications, Violence

 

            Aang, the main protagonist of the first season of the Avatar series, is a reincarnation of an “Avatar.” He is gifted with the power to telekinetically control the natural elements; his responsibility is to restore balance of power in the world. As can be guessed by the clever pun on the “Potala Palace,” the motif for the character is a Tibetan Dalai Lama who also reincarnates. It is no surprise that Aang’s spiritual father (Gyatso) and Aang’s son (Tenzin) were named after the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet (Tenzin Gyatso).

            Pah-La is a play inspired by the 2008 uprising in Tibet; it was scheduled to perform at the Royal Court Theatre in 2019, until it was forced to be taken down. The play follows the story of Deshar, a Tibetan Buddhist nun, who engages in a revolutionary peaceful protest. The play provokes profound dialogues on human rights, peaceful protests, and the circumstances that women face in a system developed by violent, vengeful fathers. 

2.              THE GOLDEN COUNTRY by Endo Shusaku

 

“AANG: Gliding maybe, but not flying. You can tell by the way they move, they're not airbending. Those people have no spirit. 

TEO: Yeah, my dad is the mastermind behind this whole place. Everything's powered by hot air. It even pumps hot air currents outside to give us a lift while we're gliding.

AANG: This is supposed to be the history of my people.”

                                                The Last Airbender, Book 1 Ep 17, The Northern Air Temple

 

Themes: Encounter with technology in Asia. East and West 

Contents warning: Violence and Gore

 

            Aang has been trapped in an iceberg for over a hundred years. When he wakes up, much of the known world has changed. His homeland has been ravaged by the Fire Nation and the martial arts unique to his culture has been eradicated. In this scene, Aang shows contempt over Teo, who is a refugee that resides in what used to be the Northern Air Temple. While Teo is not an airbender, he showcases the ability to fly by using technology. Aang dismisses technological science to be inferior to the traditional air bending techniques.

            This is quite reminiscent of Asia’s early encounters with European imperialism. In Endo Shusaku’s masterpiece The Golden Country, we follow the story of a Portuguese missionary in the Edo Era Japan. Stuck among the globalizing world, the rapidly advancing technology, the challenges to the philosophies, and the growing international trades, the characters in this play are forced to face the inevitable changes that came as a result of the European imperialism. As early Japanese Christians are forced to apostatize under the tortures of the Buddhist inquisitors, the play reflects upon the duality of Edo Japan as both a “swamp” of isolationist policies and a “golden country” of infinite opportunity.

3.              COMFORT WOMEN: A NEW MUSICAL by Dimo Kim, Osker David Aguirre, Joann Mieses

 

“SONG: When I was a little girl, the Fire Nation raided our farming village [...] The Fire Nation has hurt you. [...] It's okay. They've hurt me, too.”

                                                The Last Airbender, Book 2 Ep 2, The Cave of Two Lovers

 

Themes: Women in War, Imperialism, Sexual Slavery, Comfort Women, War Crimes

Trigger Warning: Brutality, Sexual Coercion, Guns, Violence

 

            The first season of the Avatar series focuses mainly on the Hundred Year War, which began with the Fire Nation’s genocidal attempt to colonize the world. In this scene, Zuko, the prince of the Fire Nation in disguise, encounters Song. Song shows hospitality unaware that Zuko is from the Fire Nation. Song reveals that she has been scarred by the fire that scorched her leg and burned down her village. 

            Comfort Women is an adaptation of various interviews and accounts of women who were forced or deceived into sexual slavery during the Japanese colonization. Marked as properties of the imperial army by scorching the skin with burning brands, the women were sent away from their homes to military camps in foreign lands. Comfort Women is a good introduction to the topic for people who are not familiar with the issue; it brings to light an account of the war crime which, to this day, is still waiting for an apology.

4.              THE WORLD OF EXTREME HAPPINESS by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig

 

“JOO DEE: You're in Ba Sing Se now. Everyone is safe here.

DAI LI AGENT: There's no war in Ba Sing Se.”

                                                The Last Airbender, Book 2 Ep 14, City of Walls and Secrets

 

Themes: Censorship, The Cultural Revolution, Poverty, Wealth Disparity

Contents Warning: Sexual Implications, Violence, Misogyny, Vulgar Language

 

            With the advent of the CoVid-19 Pandemic Crisis, the phrase “There’s no war in Ba Sing Se” became a popular meme slogan to criticize the latent response in America. The meme is a satirical representation of government officials that deny the existence of an imminent peril for the sake of protecting political interest, disregarding the amount of damage it would cost to the civilian population. 

When dealing with this topic, please do keep in mind that it is also very important to discuss the rise of violence against the AAPI communities as people failed to distinguish the actions of a single administration in one of the 50 different nations in Asia from various Asian American immigrant groups that resided in the United States. 

            The World of Extreme Happiness is a play that tackles the wealth disparity and the discontent of the working poor that arises thereof. The story follows the journey of a young woman named ▓▓▓▓ from a rural town in ▓▓▓. As she labors under the extreme burdens of poverty, she struggles to bring about changes in a state where resistance is most unwelcome. Her effort to bring revolution faces challenges as the ▓▓▓▓ forces her to ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓. In this masterpiece by ▓▓▓▓, we are left to question how much media censorship dictates the way we see the world, as well as the ethics of a government’s ability to ▓▓▓▓▓.

5.              ANDHA YUG by Dharamvir Bharati

 

“AANG: Everyone expects me to take the Fire Lord's life, but I just don't know if I can do that.”

                                                The Last Airbender, Book 3 Ep 19, Sozin’s Comet Part 2

 

            Themes: War, Peace, India Partition, Vengeance, Weapon of Mass Destruction

            Contents Warning: Violence, Gore, Heightened Language, Suicide Ideation

            The climax of The Last Airbender is marked with Aang’s internal conflict on whether peace can be achieved without the use of violence. As the Air Nomads are forbidden to kill any living creature, Aang is put into a moral dilemma when faced with the responsibility to stop the violent, blood thirsty leader of the Fire Nation.

            Andha Yug, first produced as a radio play, provides an interesting standpoint on this matter. Based upon the stories from the Mahabharata, the play advocates for the survival of compassion and goodness in the deathly blight of war. This play is written in verse format with the assumption that the audience is familiar with the Mahabharata. When choosing to use this text, it might be helpful to read the summaries and explanations provided by the editors, as well as keeping a physical diagram of character relationship on who is fighting on which side of the war.

6.              THE PHOENIX TREES ARE IN BLOSSOM by Hsu Rey-Fang

 

“TARRLOK: Republic City stands as a beacon of freedom, but the Equalists are using that freedom to tear it down” 

                                                The Legend of Korra, Book 1 Ep 8, When Extremes Meet

 

            Themes: Imperialism, Rise of Communism, Taiwan

            Contents Warning: Multiple languages spoken in the production

 

            The Legend of Korra is a second season of the Avatar series that takes place many decades after the events in The Last Airbender. The setting of this part of the series is the Republic City, inspired by 20th century modern Asian cities with heavy influence from Hong Kong. Naturally, the series targets a slightly more mature audience with topics from much more current events. 

Korra, the reincarnation of the Avatar, encounters a group of people who are dissatisfied with the “benders” . The non-benders have experienced various forms of discriminations due to their inability to bend the elements, which resulted in an accumulation of resentment towards all benders. With the help of technological advances, a group of non-benders formed an extremist revolutionary group that used violence to “equalize” the disparity between the benders and the non-benders. This rising terrorist group is called the “Equalists.”

The Phoenix Trees Are in Blossom is a play about a Taiwanese family that survived both the Japanese imperialism and the rise of the Communist Party in China. As the family goes through the tumultuous transition, the audience is left to wonder if the interests of the common civilians mattered through all the political revolutions. The author fascinatingly juxtaposes the Taiwanese family with the career of the actor Li Xianglan as both the family and the superstar go through a phase of life-changing identity crisis.

7.              AMONG THE DEAD by Hansol Jung

 

“UNALAQ: If the Water Tribes were at war, the other nations would take sides. [...] and the world would be thrown into a battle between spirits and man. That would be catastrophic.”

                                                The Legend of Korra, Book 2 Ep 3, Civil Wars Part 1

 

            Themes: Comfort Women, Korean War, Democratic Uprising in Korea

            Trigger Warning: Sexual Slavery, Brutality, Gore

            In the Avatar series, the Water Tribes are divided into the Northern Water Tribe and the Southern Water Tribe. In The Last Airbender, the Northern Water Tribe manages to survive the threats of imperialism through the help of Avatar Aang. The Southern Water Tribe, however, is pillaged thoroughly by the Fire Nation’s invasions. In The Legend of Korra, the Southern Water Tribe has not only recovered much of its economic functions, but has accumulated enough wealth to live in prosperity--that is, until the threats of a civil war began to rise between the two Water Tribes.

            The 1970’s marked a strange decade for the two Koreas. The communist North Korean economy has been strong even after the decades of Japanese colonization whereas the democratic South Korean economy has been thoroughly butchered. Even after the Korean Civil War, the North was able to maintain a booming economic status through trading with China and the USSR while the South lived in poverty. This economic status flipped completely in the 1970’s due to many factors that economists and historians still debate to this day. 

            Among the Dead is a play about a biracial Korean American named Ana who visits Seoul in search of her roots. Through the help of a mystical character named “Jesus,” she learns about her mother who lived through the sexual slavery of the Japanese Colonization Era and the Civil War caused by foreign interventions. The play uses elements of fantasy and dark comedy to tell the complex narrative of modern Korean history from a perspective of a woman abandoned by her American husband, a daughter stranded in her motherland, and a country neglected by her allies amidst a war that she never needed.

8.              ENJOY by Toshiki Okada

 

“VARRICK: No, he wants control of our wealth. My wealth. And I like my wealth. If Unalaq doesn't pull his forces out, then we have no choice but to fight for our freedom!”

                                                The Legend of Korra, Book 2 Ep 3, Civil Wars Part 1

 

            Themes: Bubble Bursts, Wealth Disparity, Capitalism, Materialism

            Contents Warning: Hyperrealistic Dialogues

            In early episodes of The Legend of Korra, Varrick appears as a caricature of a wealthy robber baron fermented in Capitalism. Flaunting his extravagant lifestyle as a billionaire entrepreneur, Varrick does anything and everything to make money. Although his obsessive materialism is often portrayed as a comedic character flaw, Varrick makes morally problematic choices for the sake of his greed. 

            In Toshiki Okada’s play Enjoy, we see a starkly contrasting snippet of post-Bubble world in modern Japan. Deprived from the extravagant economic boom that their parents have experienced, the characters in Enjoy are stuck in a swamp of unemployment: too old to get an “entry level” job, too inexperienced to start an official career. While Japan was able to enjoy the fantasy of prosperity in the 80’s, the youths of the following generation were robbed of their livelihood. The careless policy making and irresponsible spendings were reciprocated as three decades of deflation, poverty, real estate crises, homelessness, and economic depression, all to be paid for by a generation that did not partake in the glory of the Bubble Economy.

9.              WILD BOAR by Candace Chong Mui Ngam

 

“HOU-TING: He and Fire Lord Zuko took advantage of my father's weakness and stole our lands to make their own little empire. The United Republic is Earth Kingdom territory!”

                                                The Legend of Korra, Book 3 Ep 3, The Earth Queen

 

            Themes: Censorship, Free Hongkong Movement, Democracy, Freedom of Press

Contents Warning: Sexual Implications, Mild Use of Expletives, Guns

 

 

            After the events of The Last Airbender, the century long war of imperialism has made decolonization a near-impossible task. People from the Fire Nation have already developed lasting settlements in the Earth Kingdom territory. As a compromise to this conflict, a special island is designated as an autonomous territory in the Earth Kingdom. This island is named the “Republic City,” which grew into prosperity due to its open door policy (no pun intended) that brought wealth from all four nations.  Each nation would send a delegate representative to serve in the United Republic Council to ensure that the spheres of influence (no pun intended, again) remain balanced within this territory.

            Hou-Ting, the successor to the Earth Kingdom’s throne, deeply resents her father’s attempt to create peace between the nations and holds a grudge for making the compromise. Hou-Ting reverses the progresses her father made by reinstating the brutal police force and the authoritarian rules. This leads to the rise of discontent from the impoverished citizens as they were becoming sacrifices to uphold a facade of a country.

            While both the play Wild Boar and The Legend of Korra were created before the Free Hong Kong movement, both provide a point of dialogue for the inevitable conflict that grew out of the Treaty of Nanking. Following the story of a publishing company in a fictional city, the journalists try to expose the government’s attempt to forcibly redesign the entire city despite the deadly impact it would possibly have. The play challenges the role of the media in processing the many versions of truths for the public, as well as the costly toil for nurturing a democratic society.

 

 

Photo Credits:

            *Sources without links are either from the public domain or do not require attribution.

 

1. Potala Palace

2. Gravestone of Cristóvão Ferreira, one of the major characters in the Golden Country.

3. Young girls from China and Malaysia stolen from Penang.

4. A production of The World of Extreme Happiness. 
https://tinyurl.com/546nmey7

5. Yudhisthira arrives at Hastinapur at the end of the war

6. Li Xianglan

7. May 18th Movement
By Mar del Este - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46797467

8. Plaza Accord 1985

9. The Signing of the Treaty of Nanking