Eurasian theater is not the theater of the steppes of Central Asia: it refers to a realm of theatrical knowledge where the iridescent traditions of classical Asian theaters (such as Nô, Kabuki, the dances of India and Bali, and Peking Opera) intertwine with the traditions of European and Western theater. This territory, where Euripides, Kalidasa, Shakespeare, Zeami, Aristotle's Poetics, and the Indian Natyashastra converge within the borders of a single heritage of theatrical knowledge, became explicit in the 20th century. Although the relationships, exchanges, and more or less fruitful misunderstandings between East and West in theater and stage practices date back to antiquity, it is in the 20th century that Eurasian theater found widespread resonance, first in the context of colonialism and its exotic fashions, and later in that of multiculturalism. Figures like Craig, Meyerhold, Artaud, Brecht, Grotowski, Brook, and Barba contributed to the perspective of Eurasian theater in 20th-century Europe, drawing some of their most profound stimuli for their practices and theories from Asian cultures. Eurasian theater is thus an active idea in modern theatrical culture, a result of thinking about theater not as literature but as a crucible of innovative experiences essential to defining theatrical science and the actor's creative techniques.
