Theater East and West

Theater East and West: Perspectives Toward a Total Theater, by Leonard Cabell Pronko, examines the surge of American interest in Asian performance traditions during the late 1960s and early 1970s, particularly the fascination with Kabuki. Pronko situates this phenomenon largely within universities, which—unburdened by commercial constraints—became hubs for experimentation and cross-cultural exchange. He chronicles the rise of English-language stagings such as Narukami and Kanjinchop, the appearance of Asian-inspired productions at national theater festivals, and the growing infrastructure that supported these efforts, from specialized bulletins to campus-based tours and visiting artists. Critical responses ranged from curiosity to genuine enthusiasm, underscoring a new receptivity to Asian forms as both accessible and expansive models of theatrical possibility.

In updating his original 1967 study, Pronko distinguishes between successes and failures in this evolving dialogue. The ill-fated Kabuki Theater Restaurant in San Francisco exemplified the pitfalls of spectacle without authenticity, while American directors and experimental Japanese troupes demonstrated the creative potential of hybrid staging, adapting works such as Yeats’s plays or *Titus Andronicus* with Kabuki and Chinese opera vocabularies. Tours by authentic classical ensembles from Japan, China, India, and Indonesia drew enthusiastic audiences, but also revealed a structural problem: few Western artists could commit to years of apprenticeship in Asia, and importing true master teachers remained challenging. Pronko argues that disciplined training in authentic modes is essential before meaningful adaptation, pointing to promising developments such as Japan’s opening of formal schools in Noh, Kyogen, and dance, and especially the National Theatre’s Kabuki Training Program, begun in 1970. Having studied within its first cohort, he highlights the impressive achievements of its graduates—later showcased at the American College Theater Festival—as proof that intensive, structured study can yield remarkable results. Ultimately, Pronko presents a field at the threshold of a sustained “total theater” dialogue, one that will flourish only through rigor, respect for source traditions, and effective pipelines for training and exchange.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1967.