San Francisco based Firescape Theatre and Yolk Productions in association with The Beverly HillsPlayhouse has announced Rob Zimmerman as director of a remounting of their award winning Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang.
Hwang-Tesori dream team brings Sino-futurist musical ‘Soft Power’ to SF /
The first collaboration of the theatrical dream team of great American playwright David Henry Hwang (“M. Butterfly,” “Yellow Face,” “Chinglish”) and versatile composer Jeanine Tesori (“Fun Home,” “Shrek the Musical,” “Caroline, or Change”), “Soft Power” is billed as “a play with a musical” with a predominantly Asian American cast. Coming to the Curran in San Francisco, fresh from its world premiere in Los Angeles, it starts as a contemporary comedy and then shifts into a full-blown musical.
Hwang’s ‘Soft Power’ — part play, part musical — sparked by ‘King and I’ revival /
Early in David Henry Hwang’s prolific career, the theater community started referring to him as the most famous Chinese American playwright. Over the decades Hwang has had mixed feelings about his anointment.
“At this point I think it is just true. I think everybody who is fortunate enough to have a career gets labeled in one way or another, and I do write a lot about Asian American stuff, so that is fair. But ‘label’ has evolved into a term more desirable, which is branding, and I am well branded,” he said recently with a laugh.
APEX Express – June 14, 2018- The Story Before /
The PowerLeeGirls Miko Lee and Jalena Keane-Lee present “The Story Before” we talk with 3 APA artists at very different places in their careers. We ask them about how they got to present day where they are sharing skills with the next generation, creating innovative theatre, and talking about arts, activism and progressive change. Featuring APA artists: educator/filmmaker Bhwain Suchak, playwright and professor David Henry Hwang and filmmaker Alex Chu.
Stars’ plates full on Broadway /
American Theater Wing did a schmooze at Laura Maioglio’s restaurant, Barbetta.
Patti LuPone: “What’s with workers in our Theater District? Having dinner nearby, right before a show, if you ask, ‘Where’s the Barrymore?’ — they don’t know. It’s West 47th. The restaurant’s West 46th. And they don’t know where it is?!”
Playwright David Henry Hwang: “My new musical ‘Soft Power’ is trying out on the coast. It’s political history played through China; about influencing other countries by ideas.”
Tony Awards 2018 Red Carpet Live: All the Celebrity Dresses and Fashion /
Tonight, the 72nd Annual Tony Awards honored nominees for their excellence in Broadway theater. Hosted by Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles at Radio City Music Hall, the evening celebrates outstanding works of theater and acknowledges the many players involved in the making of them. But before the award show attendees found their seats in the famous Art Deco theater, they walked the red carpet to a light show of camera flashes that documented every sequined gown, tulle confection, and tailored tux. See what all of your favorite actors, playwrights, directors, and more wore to the biggest night in Broadway. And check back later this evening to see who made it onto the 2018 Tony Awards best-dressed list.
Patti LuPone, Santino Fontana Celebrate New American Theatre Wing Oral History /
The American Theatre Wing celebrated its centennial anniversary with the launch of the new book American Theatre Wing, an Oral History: 100 Years, 100 Voices, 100 Million Miracles on June 7 at Barbetta Restaurant.
Celebrating the 100 years of the American Theatre Wing, this book is a cornucopia of untold lore and never-before-seen photos as prismatic and unexpected as the theater itself. Written by Patrick Pacheco, the work features reminiscences by Angela Lansbury, Rosie O'Donnell, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Harold Prince, Kenny Leon, Neil Patrick Harris, David Henry Hwang, Harvey Fierstein, and James Corden, among others.
Pearl Studios Unveils ‘Tiger Empress’ Movie, Promotes Justinian Huang /
Pearl Studios is developing the animated movie “Tiger Empress” with playwright David Henry Hwang on board to pen the script.
“Tiger Empress” is the story of a young tigress who grows from the obedient daughter into a transformational leader when a prophecy convinces her that she’s the only one who can save their kingdom. Hwang’s play “M. Butterfly” won the Tony Award for best play in 1988.
David Henry Hwang to Write Animated Film 'Tiger Empress' for Pearl Studio /
David Henry Hwang, the Tony Award-winning playwright of M. Butterfly, has been tapped to write the screenplay for the animated film Tiger Empress for Pearl Studio, the Shanghai-based animation studio. The film will tell the story of a young tigress who grows from the obedient daughter of a tiger mom into a leader who must save their kingdom.
Interview with Carol Becker and David Henry Hwang: International Play Reading Festival /
The Columbia University School of the Arts International Play Reading Festival is a new Festival organized by Dean Carol Becker and Playwriting Concentration Director David Henry Hwang. The Festival will be held at Lenfest Center for the Arts June 15th, 16th, and 17th and will present public readings of three plays by living international playwrights: Time Bomb by N. Riantiarno (Indonesia), Shaitan Lake by Rinat Tashimov (Russia) and Where Can I Find Someone Like You, Ali? By Raeda Taha (Palestine).
They Call Us David /
Jeff and Phil welcome celebrated playwright David Henry Hwang to talk about his form-busting new "play with a musical" SOFT POWER. They discuss political fantasies and realities, Hillary Clinton as a romantic lead, and that time DHH got stabbed.
The Great Work Continues: The 25 Best American Plays Since ‘Angels in America,’ includes Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang /
“The Great Work begins.” When we first heard the Angel of America bellow that bulletin as the curtain came down on Part 1 of the play named for her and her band of anxious immortals, many of us who look to the theater for inspiration were, in fact, inspired. Tony Kushner’s “gay fantasia,” fusing the ambition, morality and underdog sympathies of earlier 20th century masters, felt not only like a great American play but like a culmination and reimagining of great American playness. It slammed a door open.
That was 1993. Exactly 25 years later, the first Broadway revival of “Angels in America” started us thinking about what has happened to American plays in the meantime. Have they been as great? Is their greatness different from what it was? Is “greatness” even a meaningful category anymore?
Conrad Ricamora Lights Up New Musical ‘Soft Power’ /
Conrad Ricamora didn’t set out to be an actor. Growing up, the “How to Get Away With Murder” star lived all over the world, from Iceland to Florida, due to his father’s job in the Air Force. Though he enjoyed singing and dancing when he was little, by the time he hit middle school, “I realized guys would be ridiculed if you did that, so I quickly stopped and started playing sports.”
Opera 'An American Soldier' asks big questions about American identity /
U.S. Army Private Danny Chen died at his guard post in Afghanistan in 2011 — not in combat, but from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after enduring racially motivated hazing by his fellow soldiers.
A new opera opening at Opera Theatre of St. Louis on Sunday looks at Chen’s life and death. The creators of “An American Soldier” say it asks basic questions about the nature of identity and belonging in this country.
BWW Insight: Mixing Military Racism and a Mother's Love, AN AMERICAN SOLDIER Opens June 3 in St. Louis /
AN AMERICAN SOLDIER--music by Huang Ruo and libretto by David Henry Hwang, directed by Matthew Ozawa--opens at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) on June 3, with performances through June 22, part of OTSL's New Works, Old Voices series. The opera asks the powerful question: What does it mean to be an American? It is based on the true story of a young Chinese American from New York, who enlisted in the Army during the war in Afghanistan and was deployed to Kandahar, where he became the victim of military hazing that leads to his suicide.
A Soldier Died After Racist Hazing. Now His Story Is an Opera. /
When she visits St. Louis this weekend to see the life and death of her only child transformed into an opera, Su Zhen Chen will be seated near an aisle, and an exit.
“If I can endure, I will watch the whole opera,” Mrs. Chen said in a phone interview this week before leaving her home in New York. “If I don’t feel like I can bear it, I’ll leave midway.”
It will be understandably difficult to watch. The opera, “An American Soldier,” by the composer Huang Ruo and the playwright David Henry Hwang, which is having its premiere in a newly expanded version at the Opera Theater of St. Louis on Sunday, tells the story of her son, Danny Chen, a native New Yorker who enlisted in the Army and was deployed to Afghanistan.
Summer's Top 40 /
Soft Power: Through June 10 at the Ahmanson Theatre
Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang is back with a world premiere, a self-described “play with a musical” that taps into modern international and domestic politics. Soft Power follows a Chinese executive in the U.S. during the 2016 election, trying to develop a show with a writer named… David Henry Hwang.
'An American Soldier' at OTSL explores what it is to be an American /
“An American Soldier,” which opens June 3 at Opera Theatre of St. Louis , is based on the true story of Pvt. Danny Chen. The American-born son of Chinese immigrants, he joined the U.S. Army in 2011 rather than accept a college scholarship: He wanted to prove that he was a real American, a real part of the community.
Instead, stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, he was brutally hazed in a blatantly racist manner. Later that year, after beatings and harassment, Danny shot himself . On his arm, he’d written, “Tell my parents I’m sorry.”
Read more at Saint Louis Post-Dispatch
‘POWER’ PLAY: David Henry Hwang offers a witty musical-drama for the Trump era. /
“So that happened … ” said David Henry Hwang, speaking of an incident that put the award-winning playwright in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
On Nov. 29, 2016, Hwang was walking down the street near his home in Brooklyn, when he felt a pain in the back of his neck, as if he had been struck.
Feeling unsteady, he placed his hand on his neck and only then realized he had been stabbed — an unknown assailant had severed his vertebral artery. From his days in Boy Scouts as a Chinese American kid growing up in San Gabriel, he knew to put pressure on the wound, and, after leaving a note at home for his wife and daughter, walked himself to the hospital. He lost nearly a third of his blood and drifted in and out of consciousness.
A TV Pilot, A Stabbing And A Musical Dream: China's Soft Power Inspires Bold New American Theater /
As the world’s preeminent Asian American playwright, David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) is no stranger to invitations to work in China. But working with China on creative endeavors can be a unique challenge, even for a Tony winner with strong ties to the Middle Kingdom.