Three Ramayanas on the West Coast of the United States: Cross-Cultural Adaptation in American Theatre
Abstract
The United States of America built its diverse culture upon Benjamin’s “triumphal procession” and sustained is apathetic views towards its diversity with Gómez-Peña’s Culti-multuralism. As a result of globalization cross-cultural adaptations have become increasingly popular in American theatres. American theatre artists should produce more cross-cultural adaptations of culturally unfamiliar texts— texts to which most Americans have not been exposed. If American theatre artists perform such texts with thorough research, respect, and humility, they can inform the American population about the various non-white cultures that make up the nation’s diverse population. If American theatre artists do not perform such texts with research, respect and humility, serious misunderstandings will occur. I examined three United States productions of Ramayana and concluded that cross-cultural adaptations of culturally unfamiliar texts have a profound pedagogical and sociological impact.