Early productions often had Asian themes or settings; and "yellowface" was a common medium for displaying the perceived exoticism of the East in American performance.
The four companies have provided the resources and opportunities to actors, writers, directors, designers, and producers to pursue and define Asian-American theatre for over five decades.
East West Players (EWP) was founded in 1965 by a group of actors who wanted to fight racism in the entertainment industry by creating non-stereotypical roles for Asian Americans.
The popularity of Asian themes in Broadway shows did not continue through the 1960s, and "Oriental" actors found themselves unemployed in large numbers.
The term "Asian-American actor" emerged in the late 1960s when the Asian American movement challenged the racist history of the label "Oriental."
In Los Angeles, East West Players became the most visible venue for Asian-American actors to find acting employment and to participate in activism.
The first wave of Asian-American playwrights included Wakako Yamauchi, Momoko Iko, Edward Sakamoto, Hiroshi Kashiwagi, and Frank Chin.
The mainstreaming of Asian-American plays increased with works by third wave writers such as Diana Son, Sung Rno, Han Ong, Chay Yew, Rick Shiomi, and Ralph Peña.
These third wave writers felt that race and ethnicity were mere jumping off point in addressing multifaceted experiences of being an Asian American and wrote about any topic that interested them.
He is a seminal figure in the integration of visual arts, media, sound design, dance, mime, and spectacle into contemporary theater.
Solo performers, such as Dan Kwong, Denise Uyehara, Jude Narita, and Lane Nishikawa, have toured with their shows and have introduced Asian-American theatre to audiences in all parts of the country.
Formerly called the Asian-American Theatre Conference and Festival, the consortium's mission is to advance the field of Asian American theater through a national network of organizations and artists.
In June 2006, Next Big Bang: The First Asian-American Theatre Conference was held in Los Angeles, spearheaded by East West Players.
[5] This theme engaged people in passionate dialogue about social injustice, inequity and active resistance in American culture and helped theater practitioners consider what they can do about it.