Chicago theaters celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage Month with plays

CHICAGO (WLS) -- To celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a number of Chicago theatres are staging plays with Asian stories. From a Chinese fable about snakes coming to life to a local production of the well-known M. Butterfly, this is theatre that provides more roles for Asian actors, while appealing to audiences of all nationalities.

The Goodman Theatre is presenting "The White Snake," a centuries-old Chinese fable in which a white snake is able to turn into a human. She becomes a beautiful woman, but to stay human she must find her true love, her sidekick, a green snake.

The play might be based on a Chinese tale but the theme, true love, is universal.

There are many Asian actors in this company, a change from decades ago when the playwright and director Mary Zimmerman was trying to cast another Asian-themed play.

Zimmerman is in her 20th year of collaboration with the Goodman. She believes that, like her cast, her audiences are also more diverse.

"We live in a more global society," Zimmerman said. "We have the internet, we meet on the internet culturally."

That sentiment is also shared by the Court Theater at the University of Chicago. The 26-year-old play "M. Butterfly" by David Henry Hwang is part of a large calendar of events for Asian Heritage Month.

For more than a quarter century, plays such as "M. Butterfly" have opened many doors in theatre.

"We recognize we have opportunity to create with Asian artists, unique experiences," said Charles Newell, artistic director of the Court Theater. "Yes, there are more roles now for Asian actors, designers, directors, playwrights."

"M. Butterfly" is based on the true story of a French diplomat who had a decades-long affair with a spy and never discovered she was a man. Newell believes audiences will appreciate many Asian cultural arts, all represented in this play.

"There's Peking opera, dance, Kabuki, Puccini's 'Madame Butterfly,' all in this wonderful mash up of East and West, toward a wonderful theatrical experience," he said.

"M. Butterfly" plays at the University of Chicago's Court Theatre through June 8, as does "The White Snake" at the Goodman Theatre.