Beate Sirota Gordon: Producing Performance at the Asia Society

Beate Sirota Gordon (1923-2012) of the Asia Society became a major producer, promoting Japanese and Asian performance in New York and across the United States from the 1950s through the 1990s. Her work contributed to education about Asia in the United States, garnered support for Asian artists both in their home country and in global venues, contrìbuted to intercultural explorations in avant garde circles, and was a contrìbutor to cultural diplomacy through performance in the Cold War era. Kathy Foley is a professor of theatre arts at UCSC and editor of Asian Theatre Journal. Marlene Pitkow made this piece possible. She gathered statements (personal emails quoted) that make up the core, and without her this could not have been written.