NoteOutstanding Article Award for 2020
We are pleased to announce the winner of the Modern Drama Award for outstanding article of 2020:
Ju Yon Kim
Between Paper and Performance: Suspicion, Race, and Casting in The Piano Teacher
This year’s jury offers the following citation:
Ju Yon Kim’s elegantly written essay, “Between Paper and Performance: Suspicion, Race, and Casting in The Piano Teacher,” presents an in-depth analysis of Julia Cho’s play as well as the challenges in staging it in accordance with the casting notes that accompany the script. The essay unfolds in a way that mirrors the play’s own unwrapping of its layers. Kim’s argument offers a remarkable twist on the page-to-stage trope to address how the concept of “post-racial” is manifested in theatre. The essay concludes with a coda that questions the place of the refugee in critical thinking, in creative writing, and in constructing casting and staging. This thought-provoking exploration of race and casting at a timely moment in American theatre remains with the reader long after it’s finished. [End Page iii]
