Taking a wide-ranging look at the aesthetics and economics of theatre on both sides of the Atlantic, and highlighting the increasing interest in learning about theatre in the educational sphere at a time when institutional theatre appears to be floundering, John Russell Brown here draws on his own visits over the past decade to traditional and contemporary theatres in China, India, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia to suggest how new approaches to and locations for theatre might build on forms which continue to draw audiences worldwide. John Russell Brown founded the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at Birmingham University, and for fifteen years was an Associate Director of the Royal National Theatre. His New Sites for Shakespeare: Theatre, the Audience, and Asia was published by Routledge in 1999. His articles on Asian theatres and their influence in Europe and America have appeared in recent years in New Theatre Quarterly and several Indian journals. He edited and contributed to The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre (1995) and has been General Editor of the ‘Theatre Production Studies’ and ‘Theatre Concepts’ series, both for Routledge. This article is based upon his inaugural lecture at Middlesex University, where he is currently Visiting Professor.