Here Lies Progress: Asian Actors Fill the Playbill; New York Times, 6/22/14

Patrick Healy, New York Times; Here Lies Progress: Asian Actors Fill the Playbill:

"After decades of inching toward center stage, Asian-American theater actors are facing something that they’ve rarely enjoyed in New York: demand.

An unusual bonanza of jobs is in the offing from new shows as well as two anticipated Broadway revivals, “The King and I” and “Miss Saigon.” More plays and musicals are also telling stories from Asian viewpoints, a long-held goal of Asian-American artists. And increasingly, Asians are landing roles that traditionally go to non-Asian actors...

Actors say they are also making steady gains in smaller theaters, landing more roles that they describe as “nontraditional.” In recent months a Japanese-born actor played Romeo opposite a white Juliet at the Classic Stage Company and a Filipino-American actor was Bill Sikes in “Oliver!” More Asian-Americans have also been creating characters named Heather and Claire who were not written specifically as Asian.

“Casting directors are starting to take Asian diversity seriously, after focusing mostly on black and Hispanic actors,” said Pun Bandhu, an actor who was cast as several minor characters in the 2012 Broadway revival of “Wit.”"