The Great China Theatre

The Great China Theatre's Cantonese Opera troupe, at No. 636 Jackson Street, boldly tackled urgent modern issues in response to the new modern attitudes and tastes evolving inside and outside San Francisco Chinatown. Its productions became more realistic. Innovations included scenery, props, modern themes and dress. The Great China Theatre dramatized support for Dr. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary nationalist movement. In the spirit of American political realism and building on similar developments in the theatre in China, they portrayed Sun Yas-sen's fight to free China from foreign colonialism and the corrupt, oppressive warlord rule of the time.

The radical innovations of the Great China Theatre created a new style of Cantonese Opera: American Cantonese Opera. These were modern-theme operas based on traditional forms but in modern realistic settings and using American stage techniques.