From Inner Worlds to Outer Space

Series

• Critical Performances

Dan Kwong's performances delve into the complexities of growing up as a working-class Chinese-Japanese-American male in L.A., land of Hollywood and Disney. Kwong's remarkable performances, a potent array of multimedia effects and athletic physicalization, investigate questions of identity and the intersecting effects of race, culture, class, gender, and sexuality. From Inner Worlds to Outer Space brings together Kwong's scripts with illuminating commentary by critic Robert Vorlicky. The book includes interviews that reveal Kwong's personal and artistic influences, his evolution as an artist, and his philosophical and technical approach to art-making.

Dan Kwong is a veteran performance artist, writer, teacher, and visual artist. 

Robert Vorlicky is Professor of Theater at New York University, and author of Act Like a Man: Challenging Identities in American Drama and Tony Kushner in Conversation.

Praise / Awards

• "This collection of scripts from an important and pioneering Asian American artist will be a welcome addition to the fields of performance studies and Asian American studies."
  —Karen Shimakawa, University of California, Davis

• "[Dan Kwong's] body of work reflects the career of a multitalented artist with many stories to tell. . . . [his] contribution to Asian American theatre goes beyond his shows; he has taught and inspired a number of artists to pursue autobiographical solo performance as their career. . . . Dan Kwong empowers the Asian American identity and challenges American identity by telling stories of his life. And he has inspired others to use his workshop techniques to continue breaking the cycle of silence of Asian American men and women."
  —from A History of Asian American Theatre (Cambridge Univ. Press ), by Esther Kim Lee