"Significant Other explores representations of Americans that emerged onstage in China between 1987 and 2002 and considers how they function as racial and cultural stereotypes, political strategy, and artistic innovation. Based on fieldwork in Beijing and Shanghai, it offers a unique view of contemporary Mainland Chinese spoken drama from the perspective of a Western academic who is both a Chinese studies scholar and a theater practitioner, Claire Conceison's close readings of recent plays take into account not only the texts of the plays themselves and other primary sources but also production contexts, creative origins, artistic collaboration, and audience reception." "Drawing on postcolonialism, postmodernism, and performance studies, Significant Other is relevant and accessible to a wide range of readers in theater and Asian studies. Firmly grounded in contemporary cultural studies through its engagement of discourses of Orientalism and Occidentalism and its exploration of themes such as immigration, exile, and cultural collision, it directly investigates the creative processes of theater artists who stage the American in contemporary China."--BOOK JACKET.