by Ping Chong
After Sorrow. Page 123 and 131: Muna Tseng, photo by Beatriz Schiller. Page 143: Muna Tseng, photo by Lia Chang. Page 157: Muna Tseng, photo by Beatriz Schiller.
Pojagi. Page 163 and 169: Esther Chae, photo by Lia Chang.
Page 180: C. S. Lee, photo by Lia Chang.
Ping Chong is an internationally recognized theatre director, playwright, choreographer, video and installation artist. Born in Toronto, Canada, and raised in New York City’s Chinatown, he is the recipient of two Obie awards, including the Award for Sustained Achievement (2000); a Guggenheim Fellowship; a TCG/Pew National Artist Residency Program Fellowship; a Playwright USA Award; and two Bessie awards, for Sustained Achievement and Outstanding Creative Achievement. A former Bellagio fellow, Ping Chong held the Wynton Chair at the University of Minnesota in 1994. He received an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from Cornish College in 1999, and another from Kent State University in 2004. He has taught at numerous universities around the country, including Harvard University and New York University. Since 1972, he has created more than fifty works for the stage, including Kind Ness, Nosferatu, Angels in Swedenborg, The Games (with Meredith Monk), Truth & Beauty, Obon: Tales of Rain and Moonlight, Blind Ness: The Irresistible Light of Encounter and twenty-five works in his Undesirable Elements oral history series. These and other works have been performed at major museums, festivals and theatres throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Children of War, based on his interviews with young refugees, premiered in 2001 and was featured on PBS’s Now . . . With Bill Moyers. Kwaidan, his first foray into puppet theatre, received a Citation of Excellence from UNIMA-USA, the North American Center of Union Internationale de la Marionnette. Visit www.pingchong.org for further information.
The East-West Quartet is copyright © 2004 by Ping Chong
Deshima, copyright © 1990, 2004 by Ping Chong; Chinoiserie, copyright © 1995, 2004 by Ping Chong; After Sorrow, copyright © 1997, 2004 by Ping Chong; Pojagi, copyright © 1999, 2004 by Ping Chong
Preface is copyright © 2004 by Jessica Hagedorn
An interview with Ping Chong is copyright © 2004 by Victoria Abrash
The East-West Quartet is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 520 8th Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10018–4156
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this material, being fully protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all other countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is subject to a royalty. All rights including, but not limited to, professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this book by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from Ping Chong & Company, 47 Great Jones Street, New York, NY 10012.
Due to space constraints, photographic credits are located at the back of the book.
This publication is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.
TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, 1045 Westgate Dr., St. Paul, MN 55114.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chong, Ping.
East /west quartet / by Ping Chong.
p.cm.
eISBN : 978-1-559-36682-3
1. East and West—Drama. 2. Asia—Drama. I. Title.
PS3553.H586 E24 2004
812’.54—dc22
2003015699