Video Flashback: Lea Salonga Sings a Cut Song From FLOWER DRUM SONG in 2001

David Henry Hwang's reimagining of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song made its world premiere at the Taper in 2001.

This new production, starring Tony Award® winner Lea Salonga, was the first major revival since its original Broadway run in 1958. After a successful run at the Taper, the revival moved to Broadway.

Inspired by his lifelong search for authentic representations of Asians and the Asian American diaspora, Hwang re-contextualized Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway hit after asking himself, "Could I aspire to write the book that Hammerstein might have written had he been Asian-American? Could I re-envision the musical in a way that would feel relevant and moving to more sophisticated, contemporary audiences?"

See video and more at Broadway World

Ruthie Fierberg Launches Debut Podcast

On July 15, Ruthie Fierberg, in association with the Broadway Podcast Network, launches the new podcast Why We Theater. 

The premiere episode will be available July 15, with new episodes released every subsequent Thursday for a limited season. Find it now at BPN.FM/WWT. 

An intersection of theatre and social justice, Why We Theater digs into today’s most thought-provoking and urgent onstage works with the artists who made them and real-world experts who advise us on how we can create impactful change in our offstage lives. “I like to think of ‘theatre’ not just as a place or a presentation but as an action,” Fierberg says. “‘To theater’ is to engage with art presented onstage. The curtain call of a play or musical is not the end of the experience; it’s the beginning.”

Each episode begins with a one-on-one discussion between Fierberg and the artist behind the theatrical piece at hand and then opens up to include real-world experts in that field to offer advice and steps to help us all take actions (re-wire a thought pattern, sign a petition, donate to a related charity, volunteer for a related organization, etc.) and manifest progress.

Fierberg also tackles Octet and internet addiction with the musical’s Drama Desk-nominated director Annie Tippe, USC Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Education Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, co-founder and Chief Clinical Director at reSTART Dr. Hilarie Cash, and Senior Software Engineer at Niantic Inc. Daphne Larose; Soft Power, democracy, U.S.-China relations, and Asian-American culture with three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang, director Silverman, author and “Asian Pop” columnist Jeff Yang, and senior policy advisor to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign Jake Sullivan; and Pipeline, education inequity, and the school-to-prison pipeline with Obie-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau, Director of Integration and Innovation Initiative at NYU Metro Center Matt Gonzales, and Executive Director of Camelot Education Tyree Booker.

Read more at Playbill

YELLOW FACE Holds a Virtual Staged Reading On July 8

The next entry in the Off the Page series of virtual staged readings produced by Sierra Madre Playhouse is Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang. You will be to access it online via YouTube beginning at Noon on Wednesday, July 8, 2020. Viewing time will continue throughout the day until 11:59 p.m. The event is 120 minutes in duration with a ten-minute intermission. You may begin viewing at any time, but you must commence viewing by 10:00 p.m. in order to see the entire reading. This event is FREE, but donations are accepted.

Read more at Broadway World

Renaissance to host auditions for MY Theatre production of Disney's Tarzan

MANSFIELD — The Renaissance Theatre will hold auditions for the MY Theatre production of Disney’s Tarzan: The Stage Musical via video submission, through July 15, 2020.

Disney’s Tarzan features music and lyrics by Phil Collins, including the Grammy and Oscar-winning song, "You'll Be in My Heart", and book by Tony Award-winning playwright, David Henry Hwang. 

Performance dates are September 17-20, 2020. All performances will be held on stage at the Renaissance. Disney’s Tarzan. will be directed by Dauphne Maloney, with musical direction by Brian K. Nabors. 

At the core of the smash-hit 1999 Disney animated film, and Broadway production is the story of an outsider trying to fit in.

Based on Edgar Rice Burrough’s classic novel Tarzan of the Apes, this high-swinging musical tells the story of Tarzan, orphaned as a baby on the shores of West Africa and taken in to be raised by a tribe of gorillas.

Read more at Richland Source

A3 Artists Agency Hires Veterans Adam Kanter and Andy Patman

A3 Artists Agency has hired industry veterans Andy Patman and Adam Kanter as partners in an effort to build its literary division and grow the company.

Patman has been hired as co-head of television content and Kanter has become co-head of motion pictures.

Patman spent more than 20 years at Paradigm, where he sold “Desperate Housewives” to ABC and represented William Broyles, Marc Cherry, David Henry Hwang, Robert and Michelle King, and Kenny Ortega.

Read more at Variety

10 Worst Movies By Great Horror Directors, According To Rotten Tomatoes

The horror genre has plenty of great directors working in it, but even some of the best among them have made some truly bad movies.

M. Butterfly (1993)

In the 1960s, French diplomat to China René Gallimard (Jeremy Irons) falls for Beijing opera singer named Song Liling (John Lone). The two embark on a love affair, with René not only unaware that Song is actually a spy, but ignorant (purposefully or not) that his lover is a male performer in female dress.

Before body-horror maestro David Cronenberg (Videodrome, The Fly) had worked out the kinks in his approach to straight-up dramas (i.e. Spider, Eastern Promises), he tipped a bit too far into soap opera territory with this pallid adaptation of David Henry Hwang's Tony Award-winning play.

Read more at Screenrant.com

Tim Rice reveals plans for Aida London production

"Disney Theatrical Productions, the producers, were gung ho about the new adventure, and had appointed a marvellous creative team. The director was to be Schele Williams, who had been in the original Aida cast. Two Aida veterans were also to be in the team – David Henry Hwang and Bob Crowley, they were the key figures. Plus me and Elton."

Read more at Whatsonstage.com

David Henry Hwang to Host Workshop and Q&A for American Theatre Wing's Master Class Series

As part of the ongoing American Theatre Wing's Master Class Series, David Henry Hwang will host a playwriting workshop and Q&A discussion, moderated by the Wing's President & CEO Heather Hitchens, on Thursday, June 18 from 4:00pm - 5:15pm ET.

As part of their National COVID-19 Response Effort, the Master Class Series will provide attendees with exclusive access to hear and learn from titans of the theatre industry about the many and vast ways to finding your way in the business.

Those interested in joining Thursday's master class can RSVP HERE (please note: registration is limited).

Read more at Broadway World

David Henry Hwang and More Featured in 'The Flashpaper: Theatre's Thoughts on Right Now'

Arts journalist and editor Mark Blankenship announced the debut of The Flashpaper: Theatre's Thoughts on Right Now, a new journal dedicated to the urgent ideas of contemporary theater artists. Each issue of this print-only publication features original content created in response to a timely prompt from a diverse group of artists working in a variety of forms. Contributions can take shape in any printable form including playscripts, comics, essays, photo diaries, and more. Utilizing the speed of on-demand printing and an innovative approach to editing, each issue of The Flashpaper can be conceived, written, and produced within six weeks. The first issue of The Flashpaper is currently on sale at theflashpaper.com.

What Will It Be Like When Social Distancing Ends? is the prompt for the debut issue.

Read more at Broadway World

David Henry Hwang Offers Master Class & More

David Henry Hwang to Host Playwriting Workshop & Q&A
As part of the American Theatre Wing's ongoing Master Class series, playwright, screenwriter and theater professor David Henry Hwang will host a playwriting workshop and Q&A discussion, moderated by the Wing’s President and CEO Heather Hitchens on June 18 beginning at 4PM ET. As part of their National COVID-19 Response Effort, the Master Class Series provides viewers with exclusive access to hear and learn from industry luminaries about the many ways to participate in the business. Those interested in joining Hwang's Master Class may RSVP here.

Read more at Broadway.com

About Alice, or When Social Distancing Ends

In this excerpt from a new journal by theatre artists, the author recounts how she confronted racism in a loved one with more love.

The Flashpaper: Theatre’s Thoughts on Right Now is a new, print-only journal that lets theatre artists respond to urgent current events in any genre they choose. In the first issue, available now at TheFlashpaper.com, a dozen contributors have replied to the prompt, “What will it be like when social distancing ends?” with everything from original plays and manifestos to photo essays and hand-drawn comics. The point is to give theatremakers a platform that doesn’t require a theatre, while delivering a physical object to audiences.

Crucially, The Flashpaper is also a revenue source for artists. All proceeds go to the contributors, the journal’s two self-employed staffers, and the nonprofit Indie Theater Fund. Issue 1 features work from Clare Barron, the National Asian American Theatre Company, and the Living Theatre, among others. It includes a foreword from David Henry Hwang and an afterword from Sarah Treem. It also features the following essay from Kelley Nicole Girod, who is both a playwright and the founder of the Obie-winning The Fire This Time Festival. Below, in an online-exclusive sample, Girod explores how social distancing, racial justice, family, and forgiveness have intersected in her life during quarantine.

Read more at American Theatre

Theater Artists Decry Racism in Their Industry

More than 300 signed a letter saying theater was a “house of cards built on white fragility and supremacy.”

More than 300 theater artists — black, Indigenous and people of color — on Monday published a blistering statement addressed to “White American Theater” decrying racial injustice in their industry.

“You are all a part of this house of cards built on white fragility and supremacy,” said the statement, which was published on the web. “And this is a house that will not stand.”

The signatories include the Pulitzer Prize winners Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lin-Manuel Miranda; the film and television stars Viola Davis and Blair Underwood; and many Tony Award winners, including the actor and director Ruben Santiago-Hudson and the playwright David Henry Hwang, who is the chair of the American Theater Wing.

Read more at New York Times

David Henry Hwang renders America's racial tensions as a musical fever dream

Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (FOB, M. Butterfly, Yellow Face) has been confronting the racial tensions at the heart of America throughout his career. His new show Soft Power, 'a musical within a play' with music by Jeanine Tesori, tackles America's waning international influence during the Trump era. He joins us from his New York home under curfew following the unrest triggered by the murder of George Floyd.

Watch the interview at The Stage Show

Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 8 - FOB

David Henry Hwang's drama FOB, set in a small restaurant in California, opens Off-Broadway in 1980 on its way to winning an OBIE for Best Play.

1980 The dichotomy between Chinese traditions and Americanization is the focus of FOB, which opens at The Public Theater. David Henry Hwang’s drama, set in a small restaurant in California, wins Obies for Best Play and for star John Lone.

Read more at Playbill

Experiences on Broadway on STARS IN THE HOUSE

Stars in The House continued this afternoon (2pm) with Brenda Braxton and Raymond J. Lee This episode was in support of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Raymond talked about raising a five-year-old daughter and the state of the world. "We want to take our daughter to a protest so she learns. We've been slowly talking to her about it, especially being a biracial girl, I want to make sure she's equipped for the world."

Raymond chimed in, "With SOFT POWER, David Henry Hwang was our writer but everybody else was white so we would have pow wows or we would be in a circle and they would check in with us and say 'are we going the right way? Are we being sensitive? Is this what a Chinese person would do?' They really sat there and listened to us and learned from us and then applied it to the show."

Read more at Broadway World

Asian Americans: Inclusion/Exclusion Today

New York Historical Society Museum and Library presents: Agnes Hsu-Tang talking with writer David Henry Hwang and composer Huang Ruo. Their collaborations include: AN AMERICAN SOLDIER and M. BUTTERFLY the opera.

We Are One Public: Support The Public Theatre

A One Night Only Virtual Event to Support The Public Theater

Monday, June 1, 2020 Streaming on The Public's website, YouTube, and Facebook.

Co-Chairs: Kwame Anthony Appiah, Candia Fisher, Joanna Fisher, Laure Sudreau, and Lynne Wheat
Honorees: Audrey & Zygi Wilf
Artistic Honoree: Sam Waterston

WE ARE ONE PUBLIC will include performances and appearances by Antonio Banderas, Laura Benanti, Kim Blanck, Ally Bonino, Danielle Brooks, Glenn Close, Jenn Colella, Elvis Costello, Claire Danes, Holly Gould, Danai Gurira, Anne Hathaway, Stephanie Hsu, Oscar Isaac, Nikki M. James, John Leguizamo, Audra McDonald, Grace McLean, Sandra Oh, Mia Pak, David Hyde Pierce, Phillipa Soo, Trudie Styler & Sting, Will Swenson, Shaina Taub, Kuhoo Verma, Ada Westfall, Kate Wetherhead, Todd Almond, Troy Anthony Burton, Michael Cerveris, Daniel Craig, Carla Duren, Danaya Esperanza, Jane Fonda, Nanya-Akuki Goodrich, David Henry Hwang, Brian d’Arcy James, Alicia Keys, John Lithgow, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Margaret Odette, Kelli O’Hara, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad, Jay O. Sanders, Liev Schreiber, Deandre Sevon, Martin Sheen, and Meryl Streep.

Read more at NYCTV-7

Adventure Theatre MTC Presents a Celebration of API Heritage With THE DANCE AND THE RAILROAD

Adventure Theatre MTC will present a celebration of API Heritage with a full lineup of API Heritage Month storytimes, interviews, and digital presentations. These online events honor the creativity, tradition, and innovation of the Asian Pacific Islander population and focus upon the impact they continue to make daily through their art. All presentations are free and available streaming live on Facebook.

May 31, 2020

1pm: Storytime with children's book author Ginger Park
2pm: Digital Presentation of the play, The Dance and the Railroad, by Tony Award & OBIE Award recipient David Henry Hwang

Executive Director Leon Seemann, Education Director Margo Brenner Collins, and Artistic Director Chil Kong shared that this Sunday's lineup brings highlights the contemporary artists who are adding to our history as a society.

Says Artistic Director, Chil Kong, of this weekend's presentations, "Our conversation with David Henry Hwang on May 17th was so impactful, we had to follow it up with one of his beautiful plays. The Dance and the Railroad showcases how cultural knowledge can be educational and artistic all at the same time."

Read more at Broadway World

Stars to come out to support NYC's The Public Theater

Jesse Tyler Ferguson is a star in his own right but even he has had to gulp at the wattage on tap for the upcoming benefit for New York City's fabled Public Theater.

Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alicia Keys, Daniel Craig, Danielle Brooks, Glenn Close, Elvis Costello, Claire Danes, Danai Gurira, Anne Hathaway, John Leguizamo, Audra McDonald, Sandra Oh, David Hyde Pierce and Sting are just some of stars expected to attend the June 1 virtual event, called “We Are One Public.”

“It is a pretty impressive list,” said Ferguson, who will be the host. “I can't believe I'm going to have a one-on-one conversations with these people. Some are friends, but I also have to prepare that I'm going to have a conversation with Sting — which is really mind-blowing.”

Other participants include Laura Benanti, Todd Almond, Troy Anthony Burton, Michael Cerveris, Carla Duren, Danaya Esperanza, Jane Fonda, Nanya-Akuki Goodrich, David Henry Hwang, Brian d’Arcy James, John Lithgow, Phillipa Soo, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nikki M. James, Margaret Odette, Kelli O’Hara, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad, Jay O. Sanders, Liev Schreiber and Martin Sheen.

The event is free and will be livestreamed on The Public’s website, YouTube channel and Facebook page. The celebration replaces The Public's annual gala held beside the stage where it offers Shakespeare in the Park.

Read more at The Telegraph

Every Live-Action Remake Disney Is Currently Working On

Disney’s Live-Action Remake Machine is in high gear! The studios has already turned out several successful remakes of their animated films, including Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Maleficent, Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book and The Lion King and it doesn’t look like they are stopping anytime soon.

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME

Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang is reportedly writing the movie, and Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz are said to be doing the music. Josh Gad is also reportedly producing the film.

Read more at My Disney Dorks