The Ma-Yi Theater Company and the Public Theater present the East-Coast premiere of The Square, a theatrical event made up of 16 short plays by some of America's foremost playwrights documenting the Asian American experience in the U.S. From the Civil War to present day.

Playwrights, half Asian-American and half not, include Bridget Carpenter, Ping Chong, Constance Congdon, Kia Cothron, Maria Irene Fornes, Philip Kan Gotanda, Jessica Hagedorn, David Henry Hwang, Craig Lucas, Robert O'Hara, Han Ong, Jose Rivera, Diana Son, Alice Tuan, Mac Wellman and Chay Yew.

The Ma-Yi Theater Company's artistic director Ralph Pena said in a statement, "The unique tack taken by each playwright in The Square expands the discourse on race beyond easy and familiar rhetoric."

The Ma-Yi theater Company is dedicated to producing new works about the Filipino-American and Asian American experience.

Previews of The Square begin Oct. 16 at the Public Theater. The show opens Oct. 27 and runs until Nov. 18. For tickets and information, call Telecharge at (212) 239-6200. — Steve Luber