Friday, March 11, 2016

I'm Willing to Wait For It: A Statistical Disadvantage

Hello all. This week was my week off from my internship because ASU was on spring break. So I delved into the research side of my project and came up with some fairly interesting results. First, I looked up the US census data from 1950-2010 to see what percentage of the population identified as Asian, Asian-American, or Pacific Islander. Now we must take census data from 1950 with a grain of salt because so many Asian-Americans had been displaced from their homes due to the Internment Act during World War II. The data is shows below.

  • 1950
    • Population of US- 152.3 million 
      • Asian population- 321,033
      • Percentage- 0.2%

  • 1960
    • Population of US- 180.7 million 
      • Asian population- 980,337
      • Percentage- 0.5%
  • 1970
    • Population of US- 205.1 million 
      • Asian population- 1,526,401
      • Percentage- 0.8%
  • 1980
    • Population of US- 226.5 million 
      • Asian population- 3,500,439
      • Percentage- 1.5%
  • 1990
    • Population of US- 249.6 million 
      • Asian population- 7,273,662
      • Percentage- 2.9%
  • 2000
    • Population of US- 282.2 million 
      • Asian population- 15,359,073
      • Percentage- 3.8%
  • 2010
    • Population of US- 309.3 million 
      • Asian population- 19,107,368
      • Percentage- 4.9%
In the 2010, 4.9% of the US population identified as Asian and the census bureau goes further to provide a racial breakdown of the Asian community in America. Of the 19,107,368 Asians in America, the largest reporting ethnic groups were Chinese (3.79 million), Filipino (3.41 million), Indian (3.18 million), Vietnamese (1.73 million), Korean (1.7 million), and Japanese (1.3 million).

If we look at the break down of musicals that tell Asian stories since 1950, the trend seems to be that every decade less new musicals about Asians are being made. In 1950, the five "Asian" musicals produced were The King and I, Flower Drum Song, Kismet, Shangri-la, and South Pacific. Of those musicals, only Kismet focused on a non East Asian story. Until 1980, not a single new musical was produced that focused on an Asian story. In 1980, Miss Saigon hit the Broadway stage and took the Great White Way by storm. It also earned the leading lady, Lea Salonga, her first Tony award and made her the first Asian woman to win a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. 

So, what needs to change so that more Asian stories are produced and successful? And why can't the Asian story evolve into something modern and more relatable? More to explore and contemplate next week!

P.S. This week's musical reference is from the song "Wait For It" from Hamilton 

4 comments:

  1. Interesting statistical data... what shows with significant Asian storylines have been produced since Miss Saigon?

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  2. After Miss Saigon the only one that comes to mind is Allegiance, George Takei's musical about Japanese-American internment that closed in Feburary of this year.

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  3. Successful US Asian American Repertory Theatre has been in the game for the last forty or so years. Take note Broadway!

    Asian American Repertory Theatre, San Diego, 1995
    Asian American Theater Company, San Francisco, 1973
    Asian Story Theater, San Diego, 1989
    Bindlestiff Studio, San Francisco, 1989
    Cedar Grove OnStage, Los Angeles, 2006
    Chinatown 90210, Los Angeles, 2007
    Chinese Pirate Productions, San Diego, 2005
    Contemporary Asian Theater Scene (CATS), San Jose, 1995
    East West Players, Los Angeles, 1961
    Grateful Crane Ensemble, Pasadena, 2001
    hereandnow Theatre Company, South Pasadena, 1989
    Korus Players, New York City, 1992– MySpace
    Kumu Kahua Theatre, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1971
    Lapu the Coyote that Cares Theatre Company, University of California, Los Angeles, 1995
    Lodestone Theatre Ensemble, Los Angeles, 1995
    Ma-Yi Theatre Company, New York City, 1989
    Mu Performing Arts, Minneapolis, 1992
    National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), New York City, 1989
    Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, New York City, 1977
    Pangea World Theatre, Minneapolis, 1995
    Second Generation (theatre), New York City, 1997
    Silk Road Rising, Chicago, 2002
    SIS Productions, Seattle, Washington, 2000
    Stanford Asian American Theater Project, Stanford University, 1978
    TeAda Productions, Santa Monica, California
    Theatre Esprit Asia, Denver, Colorado, 2013
    Theatre Rice, University of California, Berkeley, 1998
    Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company, New York City, 2000
    Youth for Asian Theater, San Francisco, 2001

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  4. I also found the population statistics interesting. Have any other asians won a Tony award after Lea Salonga? What plays did they star in?

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