Chicago’s First Asian American Theatre Festival
Dates
December 4-5, 2004
Venue
Studio Theatre of the Chicago Cultural Center
(77 East Randolph Street, Chicago, IL)
Saving Face Festival was conceived in collaboration between Silk Road Theatre Project and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, to showcase the diversity of Chicago's Asian American artistic communities. The festival grew out of the Saving Face Theatre Council of Chicago and was organized by the seven member companies of the council in partnership with the Chicago Cultural Center.
Saving Face Theatre Council Of Chicago was a collaborative network comprised of seven not-for-profit theatre companies presenting diverse Asian American experiences through the mediums of theatre and performance. The council was founded to organize and present the Saving Face Festival, designed to showcase works of member theatre companies, with the aim of generating greater public exposure and support for the companies, and facilitating creative and organizational relationships between the companies. The Saving Face Festival was also created to enhance the profiles of Asian American theatre artists within Chicagoland's broader theatre community.
Founding members included: dueEast Theatre, Mango Tribe, Pintig Cultural Group, Rasaka Theatre Company, Silk Road Theatre Project, Stir-Friday Night!, and Tea Company.
Saving Face Theatre Council of Chicago defined "AsianAmerican" in the broadest, most inclusive sense, encompassing peoples and backgrounds spanning the entire breadth of the Asian continent, from East and Southeast Asia to Central and Southwest Asia (the Middle East), and from South Asia (the Indian sub-continent) to North Asia (Asiatic Russia), including people of mixed cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
In a subversive twist on the traditional Asian notion of "saving face," with its proscriptions against "airing dirty laundry" and its mandate to "safeguard personal and family honor," Saving Face Theatre Council of Chicago aimed to put a new face on Asian American representation, one that would air our authenticity, complexity, and diversity, and safeguard individual expression.
All festival events were free and open to the public. To learn more about the Saving Face Festival’s schedule, click here.