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Elisa Miller was Student Historian from 2022-2023. Her project explored Asian and Asian American Theater at the UW-Madison.
Elisa was a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during her year as Student Historian studying English with an emphasis in Creative Writing and Communication Arts. She is from the North Side of Chicago and loves reading, puzzles, going on walks, and binging 30 Rock.
Elisa writes about her research project and her experience as Student Historian below.
As one of the 2022-2023 Student Historians for the UW Archives, I was tasked with developing a project focused on historically under-researched and underrepresented people and stories in our campus current and past history. The most daunting task when I started the position was finding a topic. It took months of poking around the depths of the UW Digitized Collections, going onsite to the Archives, and working with my supervisor to finally arrive at my research subject for the year: the Asian Theater program. I had discovered the program early on into my research, but had mistakenly believed it was a dead-end after a few weeks of exploration. When, a few months later, I realized I had actually only scratched the surface of the history of the program, I knew it was the right topic for me. As an Asian-American student interested in performing arts, that had always been one of my favorite little discoveries that I really felt a personal connection to. So when I was able to turn it into the focus of my research, I couldn’t have been more delighted. This page serves as the home of the research I’ve conducted over the last academic year as well as the outreach I’ve performed, including an oral history interview with the former head of the Asian Theater program, David Furumoto. It was truly an honor and a privilege to work with the Archives this year and getting to know the history of this wonderful, unique program at UW. Thanks for visiting!
Formation and Early Years
Adolphe Clarence (A.C.) Scott, a renowned figure in asian theater, created the Asian Theater program at UW in 1962 with funding from a Ford Foundation Grant.
Scott was known for his Kabuki pieces, a classical form of Japanese theater known for heavily-stylized performances and glamorous costumes, and staged a number of productions during his time at UW. He also brought in famous actors and figures in Asian Theater to give demonstrations or even to come work with the program for an entire semester or year.
However, due to interpersonal problems with the theater department, most of Scott’s productions took place off campus. He left UW in 1979 and passed the program onto Phillip Zarilli. Scott is a fascinating figure, and famously difficult to work with, so if you’re interested in learning more about him and his time with the program, he took part in an oral history interview at UW in 1979! There are also a few pieces in the Alumni magazine about Scott and the program which I will link below.
Alumni Magazine, November 1966
Phillip Zarilli and the Lost Years
Zarilli took over the program from 1979-2000, but it seems he was not very active on campus. He was more interested in Indian theater rather than East Asian theater like Scott. I was never able to find any evidence of him putting on any productions or really any information about his time here, so it seems the program died out a bit during this period.
The Revival with David Furumoto
David Furumoto came to UW in 1998 as a guest professor, and was asked to take on the Asian Theater program in 2000 for the MFA students. He put on over a dozen Asian theater productions in his 20 years and was known for his fusion productions in which Furumoto would stage traditional western plays, such as Macbeth, in Kabuki style. If you want to hear more about Professor Furumoto and the recent years of the program, scroll down to listen to the oral history interview I conducted with him!
Bonus Furumoto Material
Here is a list of some interviews Professor Furumoto has done!
https://video.pbswisconsin.org/video/in-wisconsin-kabuki/
https://www.channel3000.com/bringing-it-home/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc2yUaAv9FU
My oral history interview with Professor David Furumoto is currently being processed in the archives, but will be available for listening soon!
Throughout the year, I wrote a blog post for the archives every other month documenting my work and general experience in the position. If you’re interested in seeing a little more of my process or what my work looked like at a monthly level, here are the links!
