If you're not on AAA's private listserv, you can breathe a sigh of relief from not receiving 12,931,280,918,412,098,312 e-mails a day and, consequently, feeling the urge to rip your hair out.

On the other hand, you should also cry about it, because few other Columbia groups can get the scoop on NYC happenings (a la Asian America) as quickly as AAA can.





Take the recent chain e-mails about David Henry Hwang, for instance; this dude has been playing the theatre field since 1980 and is still going strong. His new play, Yellow Face, "focuses on a man... who leads a protest against the casting of Jonathan Pryce as a Eurasian in the Broadway musical 'Miss Saigon' in the 1990s." On the larger scale, Yellow Face is a commentary on the American theatre and cinema's approach -- both good and (mostly) bad... Charlie Chan, anyone? -- to an increasing multiculturalism in the U.S. The once appalling casting decisions and racial stereotypes that were seen on stage and screen have, fortunately, been somewhat stifled by a rise of socially conscious APIA actors, playwrights, and directors. Yet it still doesn't feel like enough.

Though none of AAA has seen Yellow Face, a Maya :) kindly wrote to tell us that she saw the play and found it "really excellent". With that said, this staffer is definitely recommending our readers to check it out too! AALDEF is offering its members $40 discount tickets for a Dec. 6 pre-showing, but who knows -- maybe our Fall 07 stickers can do better.

For more information, visit centertheatregroup.org