This chapter explores the varied modes of orientalism that defined the prevailing theatrical depictions of Asians and Asian Americans in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Asians and Asian Americans history informs Asian American performance, both in its very early incarnations and in the post-1965 rise of contemporary Asian American theaters. The racial transformation that characterized yellowface acting was made possible by the presence of Asian objects, dress, and décor in the American home. In comic musicals, nonsensical renditions of Asian words proved a predictable source of humor. Asians were put on stage for the benefit of white spectators, and their performances were strongly framed by assumptions about their racial and cultural difference. The exhibit of actual Asian people did have the potential to disrupt orientalist fantasies. Multifaceted artistic representations of nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century Asian performers deepen one's knowledge of American theater and illuminate distinctive histories.