The Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists (CAATA) envisions a strong and sustainable Asian American theater community that is an integral presence in national culture—evocative of our past, declarative of our present, and innovative towards our future.
Our mission is to advance the field of Asian American theater through a national network of organizations and artists. We collaborate to inspire learning and sharing of knowledge, and resources to promote a healthy, sustainable artistic ecology.
As a collective of Asian American theater leaders and artists, we bring together local and regional leaders to work nationally toward our shared values of social justice, artistic diversity, cultural equity and inclusion. We hold national conferences and festivals biennially in different parts of the country, reaching as wide a range of Asian American populations and communities as possible. We survey Asian American theater artists and organizations to find out their foremost concerns. We form alliances with other theater groups of different affinities to advance mutual goals cooperatively and to exchange ideas and strategies.
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Our History
In September 2003, six Asian American theater companies attended a convening sponsored by Theater Communications Group. The companies— Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, East West Players, Ma-Yi Theater, the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), Second Generation, and Mu Performing Arts— began discussions to hold the first National Asian American Theater Conference. Spearheaded by Tim Dang of East West Players, “Next Big Bang: The First Asian American Theater Conference” took place in Los Angeles in June 2006.
The first National Asian American Theater Festival took place June 2007 in New York City, featuring over 25 performing artists and companies. Conferences and Festivals have since been hosted in Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Ashland, Oregon. The next combined Conference and Festival (ConFest) will be held in Hawaii.
>>Browse the full ConFest archive
Board Members
Andrea Assaf, Artistic Director, Art2action Inc. (Tampa, FL)
Tammy Haili‘ōpua Baker, Associate Professor, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (Honolulu, HI)
Leilani Chan, Artistic Director, Teada Productions (Los Angeles, CA)
Tisa Chang, Artistic Producing Director, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre (New York, NY)
Snehal Desai, Artistic Director, East West Players (Los Angeles, CA)
Moses Goods, Artistic Director, ʻInamona Theatre Company, (Honolulu, HI)
Leslie Ishii, Director, Educator, Writer, Founder & Co-Director, National Cultural Navigation Theatre Project (Los Angeles, CA)
Jamil Khoury, Founding Artistic Director, Silk Road Rising (Chicago, IL)
Stefanie Wong Lau, Founder, Artists At Play (Los Angeles, Ca)
Andi Meyer, Producing Artistic Director, Tradewind Arts Asian American Artists (Kansas City, MO)
Meena Natarajan, Executive/Literary Director, Pangea World Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
Joan Osato, Producing Director, Youth Speaks, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
kt shorb, Producing Artistic Director, Generic Ensemble Company (Austin, TX)
Roger W. Tang, Executive Director, Pork Filled Productions (Seattle, WA)
Chay Yew, Artistic Director, Victory Gardens Theater (Chicago, IL)
Current Board Committees:
Executive Committee (all officers)
Financial Committee
Fund Development Committee
Board Recruitment/Governance
Membership
Working Group on Yellowface
National Committee/ConFest Steering Committee
Staff
Ryan I. Kahaʻiʻōlelo Sueoka, Interim General Manager | ConFest Local Coordinator (Hawaii)
Ariel Estrada, Communications & Membership Director
For all media inquiries, please contact Ariel Estrada, [email protected]