Editor’s Note
Samuel L. Leiter, p. iii
At this moment, when Asian Theatre Journal is about to enter its twentieth year, it seems appropriate to pause and look back on its achievement. After years of unrelenting determination James R. Brandon succeeded in launching ATJ in 1983 under the auspices of the University of Hawai‘i Press, which has remained its publisher. Jim (and his later co-editor Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak) turned the editorship over to me in January 1991, and my first issue came out a year later. The present year completes my tenth as editor. During this decade I have benefited from the assistance of several razor-sharp associate editors. Robert Bethune was followed by Diane Daugherty and Susan Pertel Jain. Susan recently moved on to other interests, and Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei joined the team with ATJ 19.1. When I needed a breather, Kathy Foley handled a guest editorship for an issue on Asian puppet theatre (18.1).
Invaluable during all these years has been the consistently significant participation of ATJ’s area editors, whose positions on the masthead have remained surprisingly stable. Andrew T. Tsubaki was the original Japan area editor, and when Andy felt ready to shift gears, Laurence R. Kominz ably replaced him. But Kathy Foley (Southeast Asia), Farley Richmond (South Asia), and Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak (China) have been with me all along.
The University of Hawai‘i Press deserves enormous credit for the high editorial standards of its outstanding production staff. Those with whom I’ve had the closest working relationship, and who’ve saved my neck countless times, have been Keith Leber and his successor, Shirley Samuelson. Copyeditor Don Yoder has been a pillar of support and instruction throughout my tenure.
Every promising submission to ATJ has been critiqued by a minimum of two readers (me and an associate editor), but many get read by three or four (including both associate editors and an area editor). Frequently, specialists in a particular area are asked to read a submission even though their names are not listed on the masthead. To all who have given me their advice and expertise I want to say thank you. You have made ATJ the distinguished publication it continues to be.
The clearest indication of ATJ’s remarkable accomplishment is represented by the index to its nineteen volumes, published in this issue, and compiled as a labor of love by David V. Mason. The usefulness of Dave’s index will be immediately discernible. One can look up entries by a variety of approaches: author, subject, geography, play title, reviews. The index certainly points to ATJ’s strengths, but also to its weaknesses insofar as it makes clear what areas could benefit from increased representation.
Perusing this index makes me inordinately proud to be associated with ATJ. I hope you find it helpful both as a record of where we’ve come from and as a platform from which we can spring into the next decade.
INDEX
Comprehensive Index to Asian Theatre Journal: Vols. 1-19
David V. Mason, p. 261
BOOK REVIEWS
Kim Yun-Cheol and Kim Miy-He, eds., Contemporary Korean Theatre: Playwrights, Directors, Stage Designers
reviewed by Richard Nichols, p. 351
Editorial Committee of History of China’s Jingju, Zhongguo Jingju Shi (History of China’s Jingju) (in Chinese), Vol. 3
reviewed by Colin Mackerras, p. 355
C. Andrew Gerstle, trans. and ed., Chikamatsu: Five Late Plays
reviewed by Katherine Saltzman-Li, p. 357
M. Cody Poulton, Spirits of Another Sort: The Plays of Izumi Kyoka
reviewed by Samuel L. Leiter, p. 360
Junji Kinoshita, Junji Kinoshita, Requiem on the Great Meridian and Selected Essays, translated by Brian Powell and Jason Daniel
reviewed by David G. Goodman, p. 362
Shiro Okamoto, The Man Who Saved Kabuki: Faubion Bowers and Theatre Censorship in Occupied Japan, translated and adapted by Samuel L. Leiter
reviewed by Julie A. Iezzi, p. 364
Miryam Sas, Fault Lines: Cultural Memory and Japanese Surrealism
reviewed by John D. Swain, p. 367
William Peterson, Theater and the Politics of Culture in Contemporary Singapore
reviewed by Yoshiko Fukushima, p. 369
Robert Yeo, The Singapore Trilogy
reviewed by Craig Latrell, p. 372
Edward Herbst, Voices in Bali: Energies and Perceptions in Vocal Music and Dance Theater
reviewed by Margaret Coldiron, p. 375
Phillip B. Zarrilli, Kathakali Dance-Drama: Where Gods and Demons Come to Play
reviewed by Marlene B. Pitkow, p. 378
Erin B. Mee, ed., DramaContemporary: India
reviewed by Martin Russell, p. 383
Joann Faung Jean Lee, Asian American Actors: Oral Histories from Stage, Screen, and Television
reviewed by Randy Barbara Kaplan, p. 386
Carole Pegg, Mongolian Music, Dance, and Oral Narrative: Performing Diverse Identities
reviewed by Colin Mackerras, p. 388
Richard J. Kohn, Lord of the Dance: The Mani Rimdu Festival in Tibet and Nepal
reviewed by Claudia Orenstein, p. 390
Sidney Jowers and John Cavanagh, Theatrical Costume, Masks, Make-up and Wigs: A Bibliography and Iconography
reviewed by Rebecca Cunningham, p. 392
PERFORMANCE REVIEW
Ong Keng Sen, conceiver and director, The Continuum: Beyond the Killing Fields
reviewed by Claudia Orenstein, p. 393
MEDIA REVIEW
Shui Bo Wang, director, Swing in Beijing
reviewed by Claire Conceison, p. 396
