Thursday, March 4, 1999
rne University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
Acting troupe inspires tolerance
By Dan Curry
By Dan Curry
decurry@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The kingdom called him The Fool because he ate dirt and sneet his days collecting sticks.
But when the Korean princess kissed him, The Fool rose up, took up arms and defended Korea to his death.
This folk tale, like most tales, has a moral, said John Miyasaki, who is the director of the acting troupe hereandnow that packed the Spencer Auditorium with 100 people last night.
"You should never ever make fun of people who are different from you," Miyasaki said, narrating the folk tale. "Because if you give them a chance, they will succeed."
Miyasaki and six other members of the troupe performed vignettes of Asian-American life, sang do-wop and enacted tales of triumph and defeat.
"A lot of people go to see them because it touches their hearts," said Teh Sun, internal vice president of the Asian-American Student Union said. "It's not just comical. It's very inspirational."
Sponsored by the AASU and Student Senate, this was the third time the troupe has visited the University of Kansas.
"They've shared the same experiences as any Asian-American person would," said Nellie Kim, president of AASU. "It's a way to understand Asian Americans better, like the stereotypes we face being Asian Americans."
Sun said that humor was what hereandnow did best.
"I know one thing they've done in the past is Asian man," Sun said. "Asian man is like a superman figure, and he is trying to convert the overseas Asians into American society."
The audience was also stricken with silence as actors delivered disturbing statistics - 25 percent of crimes committed against Asian Americans are by Asian Americans, said one actor.
Much of hereandnow's drama exploded stereotypes about Asian-American people.
"What's bad about being Asian is that everybody things we're the same," said Miyasaki, whose 17-member troupe includes Laotian, Thai, Filipino, Chinese, Hawaiian, Korean, Indian, Japanese and Vietnamese actors.
Hereandnow's actors volunteer their time and perform for free.
Miyasaki formed the not-for-profit group in 1989 in Los Angeles.
The first Asian-American acting troupe Miyasaki worked for was the Los Angeles-based East West players, the first Asian-American drama company in the country.
Miyasaki formed hereandnow, a successful youthful Asian troupe that has played around the country for nine seasons.
"A lot of it is improv within a structure," said actress Debbie Cheng. "We don't have set lines. About half of what you see is improv."
"We're just a group of people telling our stories and experiences," actress Ronalee Parsaid. "That's something everybody can enjoy."
Edited by Clint Hooker
Ryan Satoshi Suda, John Miyasaki and Bryan Akira Yamami perform a comedy sketch in the auditorium at Spencer Museum last night. The hereandnow theater company traveled to the University of Kansas as part of this week's Asian-American festival. Photo by Erin McElhinney/KANSAN.
Speaker raises issues about abortion-related groups
By Chris Hopkins
chopkins@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Karen Mitchell, leader of Black Americans for Life, a Kansas City-based anti-abortion group, said in a speech last night at the Kansas Union that the abortion industry was specifically targeting the African-American community.
Nineteen people attended the speech at the Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
had to do it in March," Wallisch said.
Scott Wallisch, co-chairperson of KU Students for Life, which sponsored the speech, said that the speech had to be pushed back from an earlier date.
"We wanted to do it in honor of Black History Month, but that didn't work out, so we
Mitchell said that minorities had abortions on a level two to three times higher than that of Caucasians, despite the fact that a higher percentage of African Americans were opposed to abortion.
She said the high rate of minority abortions was because of a concentration of abortion clinics in areas where minorities live.
Mitchell said the rate also had risen because the distribution of contraceptives in high schools led to promiscuity.
"A lot of times when we mean well, we're stirring up things that wouldn't normally happen." she said.
Mitchell also said that religious and community leaders weren't helping the situation.
In spite of the current situation, Mitchell saw cause for hope.
"I believe that we are on the verge of change," she said near the end of her speech. "I believe that the new generation is disgusted with the previous generation."
Despite competition from other events and the change of date, Wallisch liked the results of the speech.
Vieyra said that she learned a lot from the speech.
"The crowd wasn't large, but the content was good, and the crowd seemed to get a lot out of it." he said.
"We don't get to hear this side of the issue," she said. "I think that her take was really interesting."
—Edited by Kelli Raybern
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