Savage Acts

Directed by Ralph Pena, Savage Acts examines how the perceptions and representations of ethnicity have changed over the past 100 years. A ew collaborative work by Kia Corthron, Jorge Cortiñas, Han Ong, and Sung Rno.

At the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, thousands of ethnic tribes from America’s budding colonial empire were put on display for a paying public. Ainus from Japan, Batwa from the Congo, Patagonian Giants, Sioux, Maricopa, Cheyenne Indians, and dogeaters from the Philippines performed before audiences simultaneously awed and repelled by displays of exotic beauty and primitive savagery. 100 years later, have we learned anything?

This production is a part of the Performing Ethnicity International Conference and Arts Festival, organized by Ma-Yi Theater Company, The City College of New York, the University of the Philippines system, and Philippine Forum. Major support provided by The Ford Foundation.

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