Merchant on Venice News
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SHOWCASING ASIAN AMERICAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AMERICAN STORIES SINCE 2003
Here, actors perform a scene from a Silk Road Theatre Project production of Merchant on Venice, the Indian-American playwright Shishir Kurup's retooling of Shakespeare that is set on Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles and features characters who are Muslim or Hindu.
The global Bollywood explosion is only the most superficial indicator of the way India has become one of the two great global powerhouses (alongside China) for economic, cultural and social change during the last decade.
Jamil Khoury, Silk Road's founding artistic director, knew Hope Abelson only by reputation but considers an award in her name "a wonderful validation of what we are doing." Silk Road is to use the money for new theater seats. Khoury said he was glad to see that the first two Hopie recipients "are committed to reaching out to diverse audiences and using new voices."