Version 3.0, a major new collection of contemporary Asian American plays edited by Chay Yew

Chay Yew Photo by Lia Chang

Version 3.0, a major new collection of contemporary Asian American plays edited by Chay Yew, is hot off the presses courtesy of Theatre Communications Group (TCG). This vital anthology includes a foreword by David Henry Hwang, introduction by Chay Yew and eight full-length plays, each paired with a statement by the author.

Version 3.0, the first major anthology of contemporary Asian American drama in almost two decades, includes Julia Cho’s Durango, Sunil Kuruvilla’s Rice Boy, Han Ong’s Swoony Planet, Sung Rno’s wAve, Diana Son’s Satellites, Alice Tuan’s Last of the Suns and Chay Yew’s Question 27, Question 28. Also included is The Square, a choral piece meditating on 120 years of relationships between non-Asian Americans and the Asian American community, written by sixteen of today’s leading playwrights: Bridget Carpenter, Ping Chong, Constance Congdon, Kia Corthron, Maria Irene Fornes, Philip Kan Gotanda, Jessica Hagedorn, David Henry Hwang, Robert O’Hara, Craig Lucas, Han Ong, José Rivera, Diana Son, Alice Tuan, Mac Wellman and Chay Yew.

PIng Chong Photo by Lia Chang

“I am inspired by the writers in this volume, who have questioned assumptions and expanded the palate of our nation’s dramatic literature… “Version 3.0″ playwrights have kept Asian American theatre vital. On a personal level, seeing and reading their plays has kept me young,” writes David Henry Hwang.

David Henry Hwang Photo by Lia Chang

Editor Chay Yew points out that these third-wave writers “have expanded the world of Asian American theatre… [by] regarding ethnicity in a much more complicated mosaic of identity.”

These playwrights explore the myriad ways in which Asians live in America: freely combining the Medea myth with wave-particle physics; nimbly moving between a field in Kitchener, Canada, and a treetop in Kerala, India; fully examining complexities of gender, sexuality, and family and all the while demonstrating the cultural and aesthetic diversity of their generation.

Philip Kan Gotanda Photo by Lia Chang

Chay Yew is a noted playwright and director whose work has been produced Off-Broadway and across the U.S. He is the Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, has served as head of the Asian Theatre Workshop at the Mark Taper Forum and is a former Resident Director at East West Players.

For 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 13,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the US Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community.

Han Ong Photo by Lia Chang

TCG is North America’s largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 11 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. Version 3.0 is 22.95 and can be purchased by calling 212-609-5900 or online at www.tcg.org. For postage and handling, please add $5.00 for the first book and $.50 for each additional copy.

Version 3.0
Contemporary Asian American Plays
Edited by Chay Yew
Cover design by Bob Stern
Paperback 680 pages
$22.95 978-1-55936-363-1

Other Articles by Lia Chang
Victory Gardens appoints renowned director and playwright Chay Yew as its new Artistic Director
Chay Yew’s Visible Cities at The Studio Theatre on Theatre Row
Mu Performing Arts 2011-2012 20th Anniversary Season: Four Destinies, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, Into the Woods, & Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert
Dr. Bobby Fong, BD Wong & Honorable L. Tammy Duckworth to Receive Awards at National OCA Convention in NY on 8/6
Photos: On the town with Rick Shiomi, Co-Editor of “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, in D.C. & NY
David Henry Hwang to Receive 2012 William Inge Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award
Rick Shiomi Checks out Performing Arts Playwrights Series in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection of Library of Congress; Attends “Asian American Plays for a New Generation” Book Signing in NY on 7/29
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at Library of Congress Features Photos of Thom Sesma’s Makeup Transformation as Scar in Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas, Robert Lee and Leon Ko’s Heading East Starring BD Wong, David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish, and Samrat Chakrabarti and Sanjiv Jhaveri’s Bakwas Bumbug! on View Through August 2
David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish is Broadway Bound this Fall; Goodman Theatre Photo Feature
broadwayworld.com: Chinglish in Rehearsal
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Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden. Lia currently plays Nurse Lia on “One Life to Live”. She has appeared in Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and “New York Undercover”.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space are now in the newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.

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