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Welcome Letter
DESI DRAMA:
The First National South Asian American Theatre Conference
Chicago, Illinois
July 19 – 22, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Dear Desi Drama Attendee:
Welcome to DESI DRAMA: The First National South Asian American Theatre Conference! And welcome to Silk Road Theatre Project. We at Silk Road are honored to be hosting the first official conference devoted entirely to the experiences of South Asian American theatre artists and professionals, and the unique challenges we face both as South Asians in the Diaspora and as artists in the United States. The historic and momentous weight of this conference has been clear to us since its inception. We only hope that as conference hosts we do justice to the importance and shear magnitude of this gathering. After all, one never forgets their first!
DESI DRAMA grew out of last summer’s NEXT BIG BANG: The First National Asian American Theatre Conference, hosted in Los Angeles by East West Players. A South Asian Caucus quickly emerged at the NEXT BIG BANG, which in turn became the nucleus for DESI DRAMA. When the South Asian Caucus nominated Silk Road Theatre Project to host the conference, we feared that we were biting off more than we could chew. Truth be told, SRTP had never hosted a national conference before. But we quickly realized that hosting a South Asian American Theatre Conference was as central to our mission and our reason for being as the plays we produce on stage. Our commitment to cross-cultural and intra-cultural dialogue, as well as to increased representation of South Asians on Chicago’s stages, is what inspired us to move forward on this idea, and boy are we glad that we did!
It is important to note that DESI DRAMA would not be happening without the vision and encouragement of Roberta Uno and the generous support of The Ford Foundation. We thank Roberta and The Ford Foundation for recognizing the important contributions of the South Asian American community and the role we as theatre artists play in creating an American theatre that is not only inclusive and diverse, but global in scope. We also thank the American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS) for their generous support, which allowed us to increase the number of conference participants. Kudos to Uzma Rizvi for facilitating the introduction to AIPS and for helping secure their support.
In imaging a spirit for this conference, we believe that August Wilson’s seminal speech “The Ground on Which I Stand,” originally addressed to African American theatre artists, contains words of wisdom for us all. So let us ponder the following quote by Wilson as we engage each other this weekend and beyond:
The time has come for black playwrights to confer with one another, to come together to meet each other face to face, to address the question of aesthetics and ways to defend ourselves from the nay-sayers who would trumpet our talents as insufficient to warrant the same manner of investigation and exploration as the majority. We need to develop guidelines for the protection of our cultural property, our contributions and the influence they accrue. It is time we took responsibility for our talents in our own hands. We cannot depend on others. We cannot depend on the directors, the managers or the actors to do the work we should be doing for ourselves. It is our lives and the pursuit of our fulfillment that are being encumbered by false ideas and perceptions. It is time to embrace the political dictates of our history and answer the challenge to our duties.
Remember, we are here to make the absolute most of these few days that we have together. We are here to propel forward a national movement whose time has come. We are here to expand and strengthen a national network. And most importantly, we are here to learn, to share, to be inspired, to gain courage, and to grow, collectively and individually. Thank you for being here with us.
Sincerely,
Malik Gillani
Executive Director
Silk Road Theatre ProjectJamil Khoury
Artistic Director
Silk Road Theatre Project