David Henry Hwang

Part biography, part comic fantasy, Yellow Face is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Henry Hwang's sendup of anti Asian stereotypes and the traps he falls into searching for acceptance in a not so colorblind world. The play starts in the 1990s as the fictional DHH is casting Miss Saigon and unwittingly casts a white actor in the role of the engineer. This happens alongside the real-life investigation of Hwang's father, the first Asian American to own a federally chartered bank, and the espionage charges against physicist Wen Ho Lee. Adroitly combining a light touch with weighty political and emotional issues, Hwang creates a "a docu-style comedy recounting a] controversy from his point of view" (Washington Post).

An exhilarating biographical play about international icon Bruce Lee from three-time Pulitzer finalist David Henry Hwang. Following Bruce Lee's journey from troubled Hong Kong youth to martial arts legend, Kung Fu paints a portrait of Lee as he struggles to prove himself as a fighter, a husband, a father, and a man. David Henry Hwang's play fluidly blends dance, Chinese opera, martial arts, and drama into a bold new theatrical form.

Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and soon to be back on Broadway in a revival directed by the Lion King's Julie Taymor, starring Clive Owen "A brilliant play of ideas... a visionary work that bridges the history and culture of two worlds."--Frank Rich, New York Times Based on a true story that stunned the world, and inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly, M. Butterfly was an immediate sensation when it premiered in 1988. It opens in the cramped prison cell where diplomat Rene Gallimard is being held captive by the French government--and by his own illusions. He recalls a time when Song Liling, the beautiful Chinese diva, touched him with a love as vivid, as seductive--and as elusive--as a butterfly. How could he have known that his true love was, in fact, a spy for the Chinese government--and a man disguised as a woman? The diplomat relives the twenty-year affair from the temptation to the seduction, from its consummation to the scandal that ultimately consumed them both. M. Butterfly is one of the most compelling, explosive, and slyly humorous dramas ever to light the Broadway stage, a work of unrivaled brilliance, illuminating the conflict between men and women, the differences between East and West, racial stereotypes--and the shadows we cast around our most cherished illusions. The original cast included John Lithgow as Gallimard and BD Wong as Song Liling. During the show's 777-performance run, David Dukes, Anthony Hopkins, Tony Randall, and John Rubinstein were also cast as Gallimard. Hwang adapted the play for a 1993 film directed by David Cronenberg, starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone. TEXT OF THE BROADWAY REVIVAL

"Marvelous . . . the conceit is elegantly of a piece, yet Hwang is able to keep turning it in on itself to reveal new ambiguities, absurdities, subversions and paradoxes."--"Chicago Reader""Hwang's plays collectively chart the evolving definition of what it is to be an 'American.' . . . His art has illuminated and anticipated our ongoing national story with a sensibility unlike any other in the American theater."--Frank RichSpringing from the author's personal experiences in China over the past five years, "Chinglish" follows a Midwestern American businessman desperately seeking to score a lucrative contact for his family's firm as he travels to China only to discover how much he doesn't understand. Named for the unique and often comical third language that evolves from attempts to translate Chinese signs into English, "Chinglish" explores the challenges of doing business in a culture whose language--and ways of communicating--are worlds apart from our own. David Henry Hwang's "best new work since "M. Butterfly," this shrewd, timely and razor-sharp comedy" ("Chicago Tribune") received its Broadway premiere in fall 2011.David Henry Hwang is the author of the Tony Award-winning "M. Butterfly," the Pulitzer Prize-finalist "Yellow Face," "Golden Child," "FOB," "Family Devotions," and the books for musicals "Aida" (as co-author), "Flower Drum Song" (2002 Broadway revival), and "Tarzan," among other works.

"A pungent play of ideas with a big heart. "Yellow Face" brings to the national discussion about race a sense of humor a mile wide, an even-handed treatment and a hopeful, healing vision of a world that could be."--"Variety""Charming, touching, and cunningly organized as well as funny, with] an Ibsenite reach and stature far beyond any issues of Hwang's self-image."--"The Village Voice""It's about our country, about public image, about "face,"" says David Henry Hwang about his latest work, a mock documentary that puts Hwang himself center stage as it explores both Asian identity as well as race in America. The play begins with the 1990s controversy over color-blind casting for "Miss Saigon," before it spins into a comic fantasy, in which the character DHH pens a play in protest and then unwittingly casts a white actor as the Asian lead. "Yellow Face" also explores the real-life investigation of Hwang's father, the first Asian American to own a federally chartered bank, and the espionage charges against physicist Wen Ho Lee. Adroitly combining the light touch of comedy with weighty political and emotional issues, "Hwang's lively and provocative cultural self-portrait lets nobody off the hook" ("The New York Times").David Henry Hwang is the author of the Tony Award-winning "M. Butterfly," a finalist for the 1988 Pulitzer Prize. Other plays include "Golden Child," "FOB," "The Dance and the Railroad," and "Family Devotions"; his opera libretti include three works for composer Philip Glass. He was appointed by President Clinton to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

"An award winning filmmaker and now hot as hell newcomer... Pak] is a writer on the cusp, right at the unique precipice between upstart and industry great." - Joe Quesada, Editor in Chief, Marvel Comics "Greg Pak's fantasy anthology piece...has a dexterous sense of wonder....Mr. Pak's feel for melodrama adds a piercing and thoughtful end note similar to the emotional gravity found in Stephen King novellas like The Body and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption....He's a talent with a future."--The New York Times "As the title says, Pak uses an ostensible sci-fi motif to link his four pieces. What truly binds them, however, is a subtle exploration of the tension between the human and the synthetic, and the sometimes fuzzy distinction between the two. The film also has a distinguishable arc, beginning with an exceedingly nontraditional 'birth' and closing with a triumphant death...He's an uncannily assured visual storyteller...The result is a quietly impassioned, genuinely stirring indie rarity." - Mark Holcomb, The Village Voice Winner of more than 30 film festival awards, Robot Stories is an acclaimed independent movie by talented Asian American writer Greg Pak. In four intertwined stories, people struggle to connect in a technological world. In "My Robot Baby," a couple cares for a robot before adopting a human child. In "The Robot Fixer," a mother reaches out to her dying son by completing his toy robot collection. In "Machine Love," an office worker android learns that he too needs love. In "Clay," an old sculptor chooses between natural death and digital immortality. Praised as "the kind of science fiction sophisticated audiences crave and deserve," the screenplay follows in the literary tradition of Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. This collection includes scripts from additional short films, original commentary by the author, and a foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Henry Hwang. "It's a crying shame they don't make more science fiction movies like writer/director Greg Pak's independent film Robot Stories...Robot Stories and More Screenplays includes a foreword by David Henry Hwang (playwright for M. Butterfly), a preface by Pak, and useful editor's notes on reading and understanding screenplays and their unique conventions. It's a great package...given Pak's thoughtful introductions at the start of each 'chapter', it's also a rare opportunity for up-and-coming filmmakers to get a glimpse into the art of short filmmaking." - SciFi Dimensions

In 1958, it was daring to stage a Broadway musical about romances between Asian men and women in San Francisco's Chinatown. It was filmed in 1961 and reached an even wider audience before dropping off the cultural radar. Nearly thirty years later, the well-established Asian-American writer David Henry Hwang decided to revisit the show and give it a more modern sense of authenticity. The updated and revitalised show opened in Los Angeles in 2001 and returned in triumph to Broadway in 2002. 'To create something new, we must first love what is old.' So says a character in David Henry Hwang's updated book to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway musical. This volume contains Hwang's new text (and Hammerstein's lyrics) plus Hwang's introduction and an afterward by Karen Wada documenting the long and vital history of this landmark musical.

David Henry Hwang has the potential to become the first important dramatist of American public life since Arthur Miller, and maybe the best of them all. -"Detroit News"David Henry Hwang has created an extraordinary body of work over the last twenty years: the Tony Award-winning play, "M. Butterfly"; the OBIE Award-winning and 1998 Tony nominated "Golden Child"; the libretti to "The Voyage" (included here) and "1000 Airplanes on the Roof" (both for composer Philip Glass); and the book to "Aida," which he coauthored. He has received fellowships from the Rockefeller and Guggenheim foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and The Pew /TCG National Artists Residency Program.This eight-play collection includes: "FOB" "fresh off the boat" explores the conflicts between old and new worlds"The Dance and the Railroad" a haunting play about the inhuman conditions of railroad workers in the 1860s American West"Family Devotions" a biting work which probes the religious conflicts in a modern Chinese-American family"The Sound of a Voice" a meditation on the traditional roles of man and woman set in feudal Japan"The House of Sleeping Beauties" a reworking of a novella by Yasunari Kawabata"The Voyage" the libretto to the opera by Philip Glass, which examines Columbus's arrival in America"Bondage" a one-act set in an S&M parlor, which examines racial stereotypes and sexual myths"Trying to Find Chinatown" a two-person play, in which two Asian-American men-one searching for his Asian heritage, the other trying to shake himself free-meet by chance in New York City "David Henry Hwang knows America-its vernacular, its social landscape, its theatrical traditions. He knows the same about China. In his plays, he manages to mix both of these conflicting cultures until he arrives at a style that is wholly his own. Hwang's works have the verve of the well-made American stage comedies and yet, with little warning, they bubble over into the mystical rituals of Asian stagecraft. By at once bringing West and East into conflict and unity, this playwright has found the perfect

Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and soon to be back on Broadway in a revival directed by the Lion King's Julie Taymor, starring Clive Owen "A brilliant play of ideas... a visionary work that bridges the history and culture of two worlds."--Frank Rich, New York TimesBased on a true story that stunned the world, and inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly, M. Butterfly was an immediate sensation when it premiered in 1988. It opens in the cramped prison cell where diplomat Rene Gallimard is being held captive by the French government--and by his own illusions. He recalls a time when Song Liling, the beautiful Chinese diva, touched him with a love as vivid, as seductive--and as elusive--as a butterfly.How could he have known that his true love was, in fact, a spy for the Chinese government--and a man disguised as a woman? The diplomat relives the twenty-year affair from the temptation to the seduction, from its consummation to the scandal that ultimately consumed them both.M. Butterfly is one of the most compelling, explosive, and slyly humorous dramas ever to light the Broadway stage, a work of unrivaled brilliance, illuminating the conflict between men and women, the differences between East and West, racial stereotypes--and the shadows we cast around our most cherished illusions. The original cast included John Lithgow as Gallimard and BD Wong as Song Liling. During the show's 777-performance run, David Dukes, Anthony Hopkins, Tony Randall, and John Rubinstein were also cast as Gallimard. Hwang adapted the play for a 1993 film directed by David Cronenberg, starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone. TEXT OF THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY PRODUCTION