Our mission
Asian Story Theater celebrates multicultural awareness
and understanding by dramatizing Asian and Pacific Island (API)
stories, arts, and themes for family audiences.
General information
Asian Story Theater
619/527-2816
Artistic Director: KL Brisby
Education Director: Gingerlily Lowe
Special Programs:
Kalí Kamaria (See the Elephant workshops)
Thelma Virata de Castro (Hand Under Hand reading)
Board of Directors
Edward You
Connie Viado
Suanne Pauley
Dwight Love
Alexander Khalil
Andy Lowe
Gingerlily Lowe
KL Brisby
History & Future
Asian Story Theater began in 1989, dramatizing Chinese folk tales as a project sponsored by the San Diego Chinese Center. The first production was The White Snake (1989-90), presented at the Lyceum Space Theatre and subsequently toured to county schools, libraries, and recreation centers. In 1991 the company staged it’s first adaptation based on the 16th century fantasy novel Journey to the West, featuring the Monkey King. Additional productions followed each year (see the History links on our homepage). In 1995 the company incorporated as the Asian Story Theater, independent of the San Diego Chinese Center, to diversify programming and expand touring operations to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Each year since, we have produced at least one production in pursuit of our mission. Touring and scale of production has varied depending on funding, talent, and venue availability. Recent years have led to increasingly diverse programs, including a full-length musical about the artist Paul Gauguin (PRICK: The Musical Paul Gauguin, November 2011-May 2012), as well as partnering to produce a pilot television episode, based on our 2006 project SHAVE ICE (December 2013). We are also committed to continuing a series of annual touring theater productions related to the Lunar New Year Celebrations, recently presenting WHEN THE TIGER SMOKED A PIPE, for Year of the Tiger. We continue to explore new production partners and collaborators, such as for the recent WHAT ARE YOU? (2019) and our in-development THE GOLDEN RULE, originally planned for 2020 and now targeted to premiere and tour beginning in the summer of 2022.