Drama and Dope Fiends: The Sinophobia of Opium Den Dramas
Lily Donovan-Wirth
Project Description
Through the lens of theatre as a sociological record, this essay examines three early twentieth American opium den dramas to demonstrate how they reflect, utilize, and perpetuate anti-Chinese sentiment.
What Form will your Final Project Take?
Paper
Who was supporting you in your work?
Danielle Goldman helped me immensely with my work. We met each Friday to discuss progress and she gave me concrete goals and feedback that helped me keep the momentum of my project.
Project Themes:
Research, Social Justice
How has this project has been impactful or transformative?
Throughout the semester, my classmates and I would exchange drafts and give each other feedback. All of my classmates were from different majors, so this experience allowed me to learn about fields I otherwise wouldn't encounter. I found all of my classmates work incredibly informative and incisive.
What would you do differently?
Originally, I planned to write more broadly about theatrical depiction of drugs. I then realized I had enough material about opium den dramas to warrant an essay of its own. I feel I could have saved myself a lot of work if I had chosen a more narrow topic from the start. So I would recommend to other students to chose a very specific and build outwards from there - a 30 page paper is not as long as it seems.
Short summary of your experience:
This project was extremely challenging but I feel the experience has really helped me improve my writing skills.
