Skip to main content

Esther Kim Lee

Frances Hill Fox Professor of Theater Studies
Theater Studies
Box 90680, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications


A conversation about new directions in studies of modernity and theatre

Journal Article Studies in Theatre and Performance · January 1, 2023 Full text Cite

MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY WORLD DRAMA Critical and Primary Sources

Book · 2022 An essential four-volume collection of key readings exploring modern and contemporary drama in a global context spanning the past 150 years. ... Cite

Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era

Book · January 1, 2022 Made-Up Asians traces the history of yellowface, the theatrical convention of non-Asian actors putting on makeup and costume to look East Asian. Using specific case studies from European and U.S. theater, race science, and early film, Esther Kim Lee traces ... Full text Cite

M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang

Journal Article Theatre Journal · 2018 Full text Open Access Cite

All the Stage’s a World: The Organization of International, Multicultural, and Global Theatre Companies in the U.S.

Chapter · October 15, 2016 Opening with a case study of the New WORLD Theater and moving on to a range of essays, the book looks at five main themes: Changing demographics ; Future aesthetics ; Making institutional space ; Critical multiculturalism ; Polyculturalism. ... Cite

Strangers Onstage: Asia, America, Theatre, and Performance

Journal Article Journal of American Drama and Theatre · 2016 Open Access Link to item Cite

The Theatre of David Henry Hwang

Book · December 17, 2015 The book also features three essays written by scholars of Asian American theatre and a comprehensive list of primary and secondary sources on his oeuvre. ... Cite

Contemporary Asian American Drama

Chapter · December 1, 2015 The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature presents a comprehensive history of the field, from its origins in the nineteenth century to the present day. ... Cite

Seven Contemporary Plays from the Korean Diaspora in the Americas

Book · August 21, 2012 This volume brings together contemporary plays written by artists of Korean descent living in the Americas. The plays address the complex experiences of diaspora, from matters of immigration and cultural assimilation to home and belonging. ... Cite

A History of Asian American Theatre

Book · October 12, 2006 Based on over seventy interviews, the book surveys the history of Asian American theatre from 1965 to 2005 with focus on actors, playwrights, companies, audiences, and communities. ... Cite

Between the Personal and the Universal: Asian American Solo Performance from the 1970s to the 1990s

Journal Article Journal of Asian American Studies · October 1, 2003 Cite