‘CULTURED’ Sweep Through NYFW / September 14, 2026 by David Hwang

Gemma Chan toasts with Elizabeth Sulcer, Denise Magid, and David Henry Hwang.

The CULTURED cover stars gathered best-selling authors, award-winning directors, and sartorial heavyweights to celebrate the Cult of Personality issue.

Amidst the runway mayhem of a packed Spring/Summer 2027 season in New York, silver-screen mainstay Gemma Chan co-hosted an exclusive night of revelrous glamour with Bloomingdale’s, to honor the fall fashion season and her cover for CULTURED‘sCult of Personality issue. Following her film Josephine‘s red-hot festival run, the actor took a night off to celebrate with the fashion set.

In Chan’s cover story, the star reminisces on her early television days and Crazy Rich Asians breakout with director Jon M. Chu, in a sumptuous array of Zegna, Toteme, Ferragamo, Issey Miyake, and Erdem looks (with a twinkle of Cartier jewels, of course).

As the evening unfolded, Fruit Fly author Josh Silver compared notes of literary success and stress with peers Coco Mellors and Rob Franklin. Gagosian director and CULTURED European contributor Georgina Cohen. Chan held court with actor Katie Holmes, sparkling in a white Calvin Klein look, alongside her partner, artist Jason Bard Yarmosky. Beside them, Bloomingdale’s SVP of Integrated Marketing Kevin Harter chatted with Industry star Sagar Radia. The most raucous table included Tina Leung, designer Jason Wu, style tastemakers Nicky Campbell and Angelica Hicks, and copious glasses of wine. Gemma held court at her table, chatting with playwright and collaborator David Henry Hwang, and socialite Ivy Getty.

US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music Presents Ninth Annual China Now Music Festival, "Chasing Dreams," October 2–11, 2026 / August 29, 2026 by David Hwang

Orchestra photo by Fadi Kheir. Festival graphics by Saboteur Studios, UK

Concerts and Discussions Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of America at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Bard College, Tempo Performing Arts Center, and Asia Society.

The US–China Music Institute at Bard College Conservatory announces the launch of the ninth annual China Now Music Festival, taking place in New York City, Kingston, and at Bard College from October 2–11, 2026 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America and the evolution of the American Dream.

This year’s festival “Chasing Dreams” reminds us that the pursuit of dreams is a shared human experience that connects all people. Artistic director of the China Now Music Festival, Jindong Cai, emphasizes the power of music in sustaining hope and preserving historical memory as we navigate turbulent times. He says, “For this year’s festival, we aim to tell stories of the shared dreams, resilience, and creativity that connect all of us, American and Chinese alike. Through music, we can be reminded that our histories and aspirations are deeply intertwined.”

Through opera, orchestral works, chamber music, and conversation, the 2026 China Now Music Festival reminds audiences of important moments in American history and invites the listeners to reflect on how the “American Dream” has changed over time. As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, the festival offers an opportunity to listen to music that explores the impact and contributions of Chinese people on the development of America.

US-China Music Forum:
This year, on October 3rd at 3:00PM, alongside Asia Society, the China Now Music Festival will co-host the US-China Music Forum: Chasing Dreams, followed by a reception. The forum features live solo performances of excerpts from Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang’s The Rift and Zhou Long and Su Wei’s Men of Iron and the Golden Spike, as well as a panel discussion. The creators and performers behind The Rift and the Men of Iron and the Golden Spike will discuss how music captures the emotion and power of history, what the “American Dream” means to them, and how they envision music and performance illuminating stories that have been neglected. The discussion will be followed with a Q&A.

Genre-bending ‘Yellow Face’ blends comedy, identity and history at Oregon Shakespeare Festival / August 29, 2026 by David Hwang

Opening weekend of “Yellow Face” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival felt like exactly the kind of theatrical gathering Ashland does best: a full house, a lively crowd and a play that gives audiences plenty to laugh about while simultaneously asking them to examine what they are laughing at.

Every seat was filled for the mockumentary-style production, which opened Aug. 5 in OSF’s Angus Bowmer Theatre. Written by David Henry Hwang and directed by May Adrales, “Yellow Face” runs through Oct. 23as part of the festival’s 2026 season.

THE DANCE AND THE RAILROAD by David Henry Hwang to be Presented at Latino Theater Company / August 29, 2026 by David Hwang

The production opens October 3 at The Los Angeles Theatre Center, with performances continuing through November 1.

Two workers. One strike. A shared dream. Asian American theater collective Artists at Play and Latino Theater Company will reunite for their fourth collaboration in four years with a rare revival of The Dance and the Railroad, a haunting and deeply moving early work by David Henry Hwang. Directed by Artists at Play producing member Katherine Chou, the production opens October 3 at The Los Angeles Theatre Center, with performances continuing through November 1. Two low-priced previews take place on October 1 and October 2.

Read more at Broadway World

King of the Yees: Lauren Yee, Francis Jue and David Henry Hwang / August 3, 2026 by David Hwang

Conversation in Association with the Asian American Arts Alliance and Signature Theatre.

Join us in an intimate conversation with three important theatermakers on the New York premiere of Lauren Yee’s play, King of the Yees, at Signature Theatre (running from October 6 - November 15). Playwright and screenwriter Lauren Yee, Tony-winning actor Francis Jue and playwright David Henry Hwang talk about sharing the notion of family in their work, their poignant, moving stories of their fathers, and the art of portraying them on the stage. An "epic joyride across cultural, national and familial borders", King of the Yees tells the story of Lauren's father Larry Yee (played by Francis Jue), a driving force in San Francisco Chinatown. Francis Jue has also played David Henry Hwang's father in his Tony-winning play, Yellowface. Lauren, Francis, and David discuss Asian American families, lineages and storytelling in the theater as part of this special conversation at Asia Society.

M. BUTTERFLY To Receive World Premiere Musical Adaptation in Seoul This Fall / August 3, 2026 by David Hwang

The Tony-winning play gets its first musical adaptation, running September 22 through December 13 at Yes24 Stage Hall 1 in Seoul.Newsletter

David Henry Hwang's Tony Award-winning play M. Butterfly is being adapted into a musical for the first time, with a Seoul production running September 22 through December 13 at Yes24 Stage Hall 1 in the Daehak-ro theatre district. The news was firsTheater Yeoljeon, the Korean production company behind the adaptation, announced the staging this week. The company has a long history with the material, having first brought M. Butterfly to Korean audiences as a play in 2012 and mounted it five times through 2024, making it one of its signature titles.

Hwang's play is based on the true story of French diplomat Bernard Boursicot, dramatized as Rene Gallimard, who carried on a nearly 20-year relationship with a Peking opera performer specializing in female roles, unaware that his lover, Song Liling, was both a man and a spy for the Chinese government. Set against the Cultural Revolution, the play refracts the affair through Puccini's Madama Butterfly, casting Gallimard as a self-styled Pinkerton projecting fantasies of Eastern submission onto a partner who is quietly running the entire performance.

M. Butterfly premiered in Washington, D.C. in 1988 and transferred to Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre the same year, running 777 performances through January 1990. It won the 1988 Tony Award for Best Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play, and was a Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist the following year. David Cronenberg's 1993 film adaptation starred Jeremy Irons and John Lone.t reported by Asia Business Daily.

Read more at Broadway World

Gemma Chan Shares Update On Anna May Wong Biopic: “It’s A Really Resonant Story” / July 15, 2026 by David Hwang

As Gemma Chan prepares to channel Hollywood’s first Chinese-American movie star for a biopic, she’s looking forward to bringing Anna May Wong‘s life and legacy to the big screen.

The actress recently shared news on her upcoming biopic, which she said is “still in development” with producer Nina Yang Bongiovi and Working Title Films, for which Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang is adapting Graham Russell Gao Hodges’ 2012 biography Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend.

“We have a script,” she told the Associated Press of the project, which was first announced in 2022. “Hopefully more soon.”

The most promising theater to see this summer across the country / June 12, 2026 by David Hwang

New and old, near and far, indoors and outdoors — the summer theater lineup offers all of the above if you know where to look.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Founded in 1935, this eight month festival in charming Ashland, Oregon, features shows performed in repertory across three venues. Among the plays on the docket this season: the Lorraine Hansberry classic “A Raison in the Sun”; an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma”; David Henry Hwang’s satirical “Yellow Face"; the rousing fact-based musical “Come From Away”; and the ever-fantastical “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Artist Profile: Ria S. Cuéllar-Koh ’26 on Why Art Never Truly Ends / June 3, 2026 by David Hwang

Ria S. Cuéllar-Koh '26 presents her senior thesis. | By Courtesy of Marin E. Gray

The first time Ria S. Cuéllar-Koh ’26 saw “The Old Man and the Old Moon” was when she was in high school, sitting in the audience of a local high school production. She loved it so much that she convinced her own high school theatre teacher to stage the play — then starred in it herself.

This kind of double immersion captures how Cuéllar-Koh lives out art. Now a senior with a joint concentration in English and History of Art and Architecture, she has build a restless and deliberate theatre life at Harvard. Cuéllar-Koh — Theater Editor of the 152nd Guard for the Harvard Crimson — writes for The Crimson, sings and manages the social media account for the Din and Tonics, and just directed David Henry Hwang’s play “Yellow Face” in the Loeb Drama Center.

“Yellow Face” was different. The material asked her to work in the specific and messy register of personality and interiority — the semi-autobiographical play follows David Henry Hwang as he mounts his 1993 play “Face Value” — a contrast to the archetypal, fable characters in “The Old Man and the Old Moon.” Cuéllar-Koh had grown into the role of director.

“I think I’ve grown a lot in confidence,” Cuéllar-Koh said.

During rehearsals, The cast and crew also got a special opportunity to have a Zoom Q&A with David Henry Hwang — the playwright of the original play “Yellow Face” — himself. His main piece of advice was not to go easy on the play’s fictionalized version of himself — which contrasts with other autobiographical works that put the author in a more favorable light — even though the point being that Hwang’s depiction is “extremely not flattering.”

“He thinks of that [Hwang] as being a character named after him rather than an embodiment of himself,” Cuéllar-Koh said.

Memorial Day Weekend Must-See: Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Flower Drum Song" at the Aratani Theatre thru May 31! / May 21, 2026 by David Hwang

Do not pass go do not collect $200. Go directly to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song before it closes on May 31. This lauded applauded world premiere of Tony-winner David Henry Hwang’s newly updated 2026 book is being presented by the enchanting enthralling East West Players (EWP) at the Aratani Theatre, 244 San Pedro St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.

 The top notch terrific tremendous talented team behind this pristine precise proficient profound production includes Director Lily Tung Crystal, Choreographer Janelle Dote Portman, Musical Director Marc Macalintal, Costume Designer Ruoxuan Li, and Lighting Designer three-time Tony nominee Jiyoun Chang. Music is by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

YELLOW FACE Extended at Mānoa Valley Theatre Ahead of Opening Night / May 21, 2026 by David Hwang

David Henry Hwang's comedy runs at the Honolulu venue, with the production already sold out ahead of its extension.

Mānoa Valley Theatre is continuing its 2026 season with Yellow Face May 14-24, 2026, with a just-announced extension of two additional shows on May 30th and 31st. The lines between truth and fiction blur with hilarious and moving results in David Henry Hwang's unreliable memoir, recently on Broadway starring Daniel Dae Kim.

Read more at Broadway World

‘Are You Now or Have You Ever Been’ off Broadway / May 21, 2026 by David Hwang

Initial casting has been set for the revival of Eric Bentley's docudrama, with various guest stars rotating in and out of the production throughout its run.

Initial casting has been set for Are You Now or Have You Ever Been off Broadway at New York City Center, running from June 2 to September 11 only.

Eric Bentley's docudrama depicts various showbiz figures testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1940s, dramatizing actual verbatim transcripts from the hearings. Six actors will perform for the entirety of Are You Now's run: Three-time Tony Award nominee Brooks Ashmanskas (Smash, The Prom), Jason Babinsky (Network, Billy Elliot), Tony nominee Steven Boyer (Hand to God), Emmy and Grammy winner Adam Kantor (The Band’s Visit), Drama Desk Award winner Frederick Weller (In Plain Sight), and Emmy and Oscar nominee Michael McKean (Laverne & Shirley, This is Spinal Tap).

Guest starring in the production from June 2-21 are David Krumholtz, Obie winner Billy Eugene Jones, Andrew McCarthy, Sally Murphy, and Jay O. Sanders.

Guest starring at future dates to be announced are Santino Fontana, T. R. Knight, Harry Lennix, Bob Odenkirk, Steven Pasquale, Molly Ringwald, and Thomas Sadoski. Additional guest stars have yet to be announced.

As previously announced, the creative team includes director Anna D. Shapiro, set designer Andrew Boyce, costume designer Johanna Pan, lighting designer Donald Holder, sound designer Milbo Music, and projection designer Brittany Bland.

Additionally, there will be a series of post-show talkbacks following select performances throughout the run. Scheduled guests include playwright J. T. Rogers (6/2), director Trip Cullman (6/4 evening), actress Judy Kuhn and writer John Weidman (6/11 evening), director Christopher Ashley (6/16), actor Arian Moayed (6/17 matinee), rabbi Joanna Samuels (6/17 evening), writer and actress Heidi Schreck (6/18), Tectonic Theater Project founder Moisés Kaufman (6/23), playwright David Henry Hwang (6/25), playwright Matthew Libby (6/30), director Bill Rauch (7/14), Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis (7/23), director Robert O'Hara (8/29 matinee), director Pam MacKinnon (9/2 evening), and Michael Roth (9/9 evening).

The Plays You Need to Know From the Last 100 Years / April 29, 2026 by David Hwang

According to five American playwrights and a director.

‘The Threepenny Opera’ (1928) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill

“When we think of how music is used in theater, we talk about Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1943 ‘Oklahoma!,’ which many people feel was the first book musical,” says the playwright David Henry Hwang, 68. “But Brecht’s play, with its jazz-influenced score by Weill, was one of the first to use music as a device to comment on what was happening in the play.”

‘Flower Drum Song,’ Once Overhauled, Returns Changed Again / April 29, 2026 by David Hwang

David Henry Hwang’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Flower Drum Song” has returned to Los Angeles 25 years after it first premiered.Credit...Philip Cheung for The New York Times

David Henry Hwang revised the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic 25 years ago. Now he gets to remedy some of his own remake’s flaws.

When East West Players in Los Angeles reached out to David Henry Hwang two years ago about staging one of his works for the theater troupe’s 60th anniversary season, Hwang had a lot of material to choose from.

Maybe “M. Butterfly,” the 1988 Tony-winning work inspired by the true story of a love affair between a French diplomat and a Chinese opera singer, with a nod to Puccini’s opera? Or “Yellow Face,” the Pulitzer-nominated play that skewered “Miss Saigon,” Hollywood racism and even the playwright himself?

Your pick, the theater company told him.

Hwang ultimately chose “Flower Drum Song,” the 1958 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical — or rather, the wholly reworked version he created more than two decades ago.

Photos: New Version of RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN’S FLOWER DRUM SONG Premieres From East West Players / April 29, 2026 by David Hwang

Marc Oka with Esther Lee, Gemma Pedersen, Ai Toyoshima, Sally Hong, Hillary Tang, and Emma Park

Photos: New Version of RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN’S FLOWER DRUM SONG Premieres From East West Players

The production features David Henry Hwang’s newly updated 2026 book.

East West Players and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center will present their world premiere of Tony-winner David Henry Hwang’s newly updated 2026 book for RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN’S FLOWER DRUM SONG. Helmed by EWP Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal, this reimagined golden-age musical will open at JACCC’s iconic Aratani Theatre. Performances will run April 30 - May 31. Check out photos from the show below!

Read more at Broadway World

A crop of classic musical revivals arrives in LA. this spring. Here’s why modern audiences will care / April 29, 2026 by David Hwang

Alexandra Silber, who adapted the book for “Brigadoon” and the Pasadena Playhouse; and David Henry Hwang, who adapted the book for “Flower Drum Song” at James Irvine Japanese Garden. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Three classic musicals from Broadway’s “Golden Age” arrive in L.A. this spring, with “Flower Drum Song,” “The Sound of Music” and “Brigadoon” running concurrently through mid-June.

Several revivals have been updated by contemporary playwrights to address outdated elements and reflect modern sensibilities, exploring themes of authenticity, diversity and political relevance that speak to today’s audiences.

The productions demonstrate how these classic musicals, originally crafted to address the issues of their era, remain timeless in their exploration of identity and purpose.

It’s raining classic musical revivals in Los Angeles, with three shows penned by Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Loewe poised to run concurrently this spring.

These mid-century dream teams revolutionized American theater by popularizing the integrated musical, a form which leveraged classic operetta elements like song and dance as narrative tools.

‘Flower Drum Song’: East West Players celebrates its 60th season with refreshing program / April 29, 2026 by David Hwang

Krista Marie Yu still remembers being a 10-year-old budding skater, flower placed neatly in her hair, taking the ice for one of her earliest competitions. She stood in the middle of the rink as the opening strains of Richard Rodgers’ overture for “Flower Drum Song” played through the speakers before gliding to one of her favorite pieces of music.

She’s left the skates behind, but Yu will again get to glide — and sing — to the newest incarnation of “Flower Drum Song.” The 1958 Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical, which received a celebrated pre-Broadway premiere at Downtown’s Mark Taper Forum with a reworked book by David Henry Hwang in 2001, is back.

Hwang has refreshed his book for East West Players. Helmed by the Artistic Director Lilly Tung Crystal, starring Yu as Linda and veteran actor Gedde Watanabe, “Flower Drum Song” opens April 23 at Little Tokyo Aratani Theatre as part of the company’s 60th anniversary season.

EWP Veteran Says New ‘Flower Drum Song’ Is a Celebration of Community / April 16, 2026 by David Hwang

East West Players will be presenting the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Flower Drum Song” from April 16 to May 31 at the Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo, featuring both EWP veterans and newcomers.

One of the veterans is Emily Kuroda, who has extensive stage, film and TV credits and is best known for playing Mrs. Kim on the TV series “Gilmore Girls.” In her 47th show with EWP, she will be playing Madame Liang, a talent agent and businesswoman.

The play opened on Broadway in 1958 and a film adaptation was released in 1961. Although the songs have remained the same, Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang wrote a new book for the Broadway revival in 2002 and has written another new book for this year’s production.

‘Flower Drum Song’ cast talks of LA performance / April 16, 2026 by David Hwang

Fifteen years ago, we watched David Henry Hwang’s heavily revised “Flower Drum Song” at the Mark Taper Forum starring Lea Salonga as Mei-Li.

The classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about the Asian experience in America is now coming back to Los Angeles, this time at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center’s iconic Aratani Theatre (April 16-May 31) with opening night scheduled on April 23.

As the grand finale of East West Players (EWP)’s 60th Anniversary Diamond Legacy season, artistic director Lily Tung Crystal will helm the highly anticipated world premiere of the Tony-winning David Henry Hwang’s refreshed 2026 book for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Flower Drum Song.”

Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2026-27 Season / April 10, 2026 by David Hwang

Eric Jacobsen conducts Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang’s “Creation” with Cécile McLorin Salvant, Davóne Tines, Cyro Baptista, and Kayhan Kalhor.