Since the company's founding in 2002, we have produced 11 fully staged productions and 23 staged readings --which provided opportunities for 170 actors to participate and 32 directors to work with us. It also allowed for 13 playwrights from around the country to have a residency at Silk Road. We have also delivered arts education at 8 elementary schools for two years. We have garnered awards that have honored our artistic endeavors, our business acumen, and our efforts to work with Chicago's multicultural communities. Our work has garnered large media coverage. Richard Christiansen wrote in Chicago Tribune Magazine "As recently as 10 years ago, who would have thought that the Loop's liveliest new arts group would be the Silk Road Theatre?...it's a pleasure to revel in the unpredictables that create so much of the excitement in the arts here." In 2007, the Asian American Institute (AAI) presented SRTP with their Milestone Award, given to members of the Asian American community who have excelled in their field; Columbia College recently gave SRTP their Arts Entreprenuership Award, and the City of Chicago will presented us with the 2008 Excellence in Human Relations Award. In March 2008, Broadway in Chicago will honor Silk Road with their Emerging Theatre Award, an award that was voted on by the theatre community.

Silk Road Theatre Project (SRTP) showcases playwrights of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean backgrounds, whose works address themes relevant to the peoples of the Silk Road and their Diaspora communities. Through the mediums of theatre, video, education, and advocacy, we aim to deepen and expand representation in American culture. SRTP fulfills its mission through conducting the following activities: o THEATRE: Equity-level productions and staged readings, many of which feature new work. We introduce Chicago audiences to playwrights of Silk Road backgrounds, artists who have been produced on a national and international basis, but seldom in Chicago. o VIDEO: Production specific video content which helps fill the gap between what an average patron knows and what one needs to know to fully understand the culturally specific content of our work. o EDUCATION: Arts education program for 4th to 6th graders furthers students' understanding of traditionally underrepresented communities. o ADVOCACY: Leadership role in advocating for Asian and Middle Eastern theatre through hosting conferences, audience expansion programs, award program, and online initiatives.

KEY PROGRAMS:Productions: Each season we produce 2-3 fully staged plays at our downtown location. These plays are either new or rarely seen works by playwrights of Silk Road backgrounds. Upcoming productions include: The DNA Trail: A Genealogy of Short Plays about Ancestry, Identity, and Utter Confusion (March-April, 2010) written by seven playwrights: Philip Kan Gotanda, Velina Hasu Houston, David Henry Hwang, Shishir Kurup, Lina Patel, and Elizabeth Wong; Scorched (September-November, 2010) by Wajdi Mouawad; and Yellow Face (March-April 2011) by David Henry Hwang. Arts Education: We have developed Myths to Drama, an arts integrated education program for Chicago Public schools that incorporates global learning with arts activities. Over 500 students and 32 teachers benefit. Audience Engagement: A year-round audience engagement program called Silk Road Sojourns, which provides production-specific content through a TV program, videos, podcasting, blogs, and a printed magazine. These tools help our audiences better understand the culture being presented on our stages. Al Kasida Staged Reading Series: Chicagoland's first and only staged reading series dedicated to developing playwrights of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean backgrounds. In Arabic, "al kasida" means "the ode." The word is meant to evoke the rich tradition of storytelling and epic poetry in the lands of the Silk Road. Advocacy: We have taken a leadership role in advocating for the theatre of Silk Road peoples. We hosted the first national South Asian American Theater Conference; developed an audience expansion program "Looks Like Chicago," a flexible, subscription series that includes 4 local ethnically specific theatre companies; established "Middle East America: A National New Plays Initiative;" to commission playwrights of Middle Eastern origins; and SouthAsianPlaywrights.org, a website designed to promote playwrights of South Asian backgrounds.