San Francisco Opera Livestreams Summer Season Performances / May 21, 2022 by David Hwang

San Francisco Opera announces livestreams of select performances from the 2022 Summer Season. Opera lovers around the world have the opportunity to livestream Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni, Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang's Dream of the Red Chamber and the Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi concert, featuring Nicole Car, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Etienne Dupuis and Soloman Howard.

A new 48-hour on-demand feature is also available for Don Giovanni and Dream of the Red Chamber. Tickets are $25 and now available at sfopera.com and by phone (415) 864-3330.

Read more at Broadway World

M. Butterfly grows its wings / May 21, 2022 by David Hwang

In a break with convention, this review of M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang will start with a note from the production’s directors, Tungsten Tang and Hetty Opayinka:

‘As rehearsals for M. Butterfly progressed, both cast and crew doubted the suitability for a cisgender woman to play the role of Song Liling in 2022. The result of this has been that Charmaine Au-Young has taken the difficult decision to step down as Song and instead contribute to the production she has tirelessly worked on, as an ensemble member. Jaden Tsui will take on the role of Song Liling. We would like to stress that this was a mutual decision and not one forced upon anyone. Yet, even as we try to update this complex and heartbreaking play, we recognise that we do not have all the answers. We are reassured by the fact that our interpretation will facilitate discussion on these pertinent issues amongst our audience members.’

Naturally, a last-minute re-cast for whatever reason is always difficult, and Jaden Tsui (playing Song Liling) was holding a script on stage for much of last night’s performance. However, they carried it off impressively, still giving a sensitive and nuanced performance. The figure of Song Liling is an enigma for much of the play, containing a tension between the real person with agency and the oppressive fantasy of Song’s lover, French diplomat René Gallimard (Joe Harrington). Though the enigma is partially unravelled through Gallimard’s retelling of events, Tsui maintains an enigmatic level to the character, weaving a searing vulnerability and a hard, sardonic, edge which was compelling.

Pulitzer Prize Finalist David Henry Hwang and Composer Huang Ruo Announced for ASCAP Experience Session for AAPI Heritage Month / May 21, 2022 by David Hwang

NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) – The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) has announced its next ASCAP Experience session – Metamorphosis: David Henry Hwang & Huang Ruo in Conversation. The session will be a part of ASCAP’s Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month celebration.

On Thursday (May 19), the event premieres at 3 pm ET / noon PT on @ASCAP YouTube. In the conversation between three-time Pulitzer Prize-finalist, playwright and librettist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) and composer and librettist Huang Ruo (Paradise Interrupted, American Soldier, M. Butterfly), the two icons of their field will discuss including themes of the Asian-American experience into opera, concert music, and theater.

M. Butterfly: Preview / May 20, 2022 by David Hwang

Of all the lies the West perpetuates “Colonialism is over!” may be the most heinous. M. Butterfly, the ADC’s Week 3 show works to expose this façade, whilst also “exploring the intersections of gender, queerness and culture.” I sat down with the show’s co-director Tungsten Tang and actress Charmaine Au-Yeung to find out more.

For those not familiar with the production, M. Butterfly, written by David Henry Hwang, follows “Rene Gallimard (Joe Harrington), a French diplomat who falls in love with a Chinese opera singer, Song.” Yet as Charmaine points out, Gallimard does not fall in love with Song but rather with the “orientalist idea of Song” – his projection of Song who he sees as “his poor little treasure”, a “weak, delicate little lotus blossom.” This fetishization and feminisation of Song, Charmaine argues, speaks to a wider issue of Western perceptions of “Asians as feminine, delicate and weak.”

2022 Asia Arts Game Changer Awards / May 12, 2022 by David Hwang

The Asia Arts Game Changer Awards, celebrating its 10th anniversary, is a signature event honoring important figures across the arts who have made a significant impact on our society. This signature event for Asia Society Museum brings together artists, curators, filmmakers, playwrights, musicians, choreographers, international collectors, arts professionals, and Asia Society trustees and patrons to celebrate excellence in the arts from across Asia and the diaspora.

For this milestone year, Asia Society will be honoring David Henry Hwang, Y.Z. Kami, Min Jin Lee, and Sarah Sze—trailblazing Asian Americans across the arts—in conjunction with Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month. The cocktail reception will feature a special performance featuring excerpts from The Rift, a new opera by David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo about Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial. The dinner menu will be conceived by Michelin-star chef, Vikas Khanna, who will be attending as a guest of honor.

Opera Meets Film: How David Cronenberg & David Henry Hwang’s ‘M. Butterfly’ Subverts Puccini’s ‘Madama Butterfly’ & Explores Deceptive Reveries / May 12, 2022 by David Hwang

What would you do, say, and believe for love, and most importantly, what would you ignore for the sake of love? Such standardized questions seem to permeate the fabric of the operatic world from time immemorial to the present, and the well is not showing signs of running dry anytime soon. But we must ask a second and more important question: How does one willfully neglect the truth for a momentary illusion? The answer to this has yet to be adequately fulfilled.

As Friedrich Nietzsche starkly noted in “Beyond Good and Evil” (1886), “What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil.” Funny enough, the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, for whom the play and film adaptation of “Madame Butterfly” owe their artistic credit, is recorded as having been incredibly libertine with his amorous pursuits, and as the maestro put himself, “I am a mighty hunter of wild fowl, operatic librettos and attractive women.” Thus, most of the composer’s operas revolve around the tribulations induced by Cupid, her beguiling exploits, and the often unnerving consequences of the tantalizing feeling on its victims.

But in David Cronenberg’s 1993 film tersely titled “M. Butterfly”—which itself is a screen-adaptation of David Henry Hwang’s 1988 play—Nietzschean cynicism towards love’s completely sublime nature is coated around a thick gloss of romanticized surreality which is not wholly unreliable due to its appeal to standardized conceptions of Orientalism, the fanciful creations of the Far-Eastern and Asiatic worlds, and essentialist conceptions of what the people (especially women) behaved like. The film also deals heavily with the contentious topic of racial fetishism, just one sub-parameter of Orientalism, and the portentous effects of decoupling oneself from reality and rational thinking as a result.

Professor David Henry Hwang Honored with Playwrights’ Sidewalk Star / May 12, 2022 by David Hwang

Playwriting Concentration Head and Associate Professor David Henry Hwang has been named this year’s Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee as part of the Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway.

Hwang’s name will be added to a star on the sidewalk outside the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street, in downtown Manhattan––a permanent monument to Off-Broadway playwrights.

Photos: Backstage at the 37th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards / May 5, 2022 by David Hwang

Last night, the 2022 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were held at NYU Skirball beginning at 7:00pm EST.

Taking home top prizes were Kimberly Akimbo and Oratorio For Living Things. Special honorees this year included Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Deirdre O'Connell and Playwrights' Sidewalk Inductee, David Henry Hwang.

Check out the full list of winners here.

2022 Lucille Lortel Awards winners list / May 5, 2022 by David Hwang

Winners of the 2022 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were announced in a ceremony on May 1, 2022, at NYU Skirball. New musicals “Kimberly Akimbo” and “Oratorio for Living Things” tied for the most wins, with three trophies each. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by TDF.

The cast of Ars Nova’s “Oratorio For Living Things” took home the inaugural award for Outstanding Ensemble, while the Broadway-bound “Kimberly Akimbo” nabbed the two individual musical acting categories, with Lead Performance going to Victoria Clark and Featured Performance going to Bonnie Milligan.

Special honorees this year included Deirdre O’Connell (“Dana H.”), who was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by Heidi Schreck; and David Henry Hwang, who was inducted onto the famed Playwrights’ Sidewalk by Jeanine Tesori.

Winners of Off-Broadway’s 2022 Lucille Lortel Awards / May 3, 2022 by David Hwang

In a return to a live in-person ceremony for the first time in three years, winners were announced tonight (Sunday, May 1) for the 37th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The event was hosted at the NYU Skirball Center by three pairs of stars from the stage and screen: Jared Grimes (Broadway’s Funny Girl) and Jeff Hiller (HBO’s Somebody Somewhere); Krysta Rodriguez and Jelani Alladin (Hercules); and Jennifer Simard and Christopher Sieber (Company).

Outstanding Play: English, written by Sanaz Toossi, produced by Atlantic Theater Company and Roundabout Theatre Company;

Outstanding Musical: Kimberly Akimbo, book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, music by Jeanine Tesori, based on the play by David Lindsay-Abaire, produced by Atlantic Theater Company;

Lifetime Achievement: Deirdre O’Connell;

Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee: David Henry Hwang.

Win 2022 Lucille Lortel Awards / May 3, 2022 by David Hwang

The Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre's 37th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were handed out at NYU Skirball Center May 1 at 7 PM, and Kimberly Akimboand Oratorio for Living Things were the evening's big winners with three Lortel wins each.

Atlantic Theater Company's Kimberly Akimbo, slated to make the jump to Broadway this fall, took Outstanding Musical, along with Lead Performer in a Musical (Victoria Clark) and Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical (Bonnie Milligan). Ars Nova's Oratorio for Living Things took home honors for Outstanding Director (Lee Sunday Evans), Outstanding Ensemble, and Outstanding Sound Design (Nick Kourtides). Both went into the evening as the most nominated productions, with six nominations each.

As previously announced, Deirdre O'Connell was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's ceremony, and David Henry Hwang was inducted onto the Playwrights' Sidewalk.

Jane Lynch & More to Host 2022 Lucille Lortel Awards / April 29, 2022 by David Hwang

As previously reported, this year's Lucille Lortel Awards, honoring outstanding achievement off-Broadway, will take place on May 1 at NYU Skirball. The evening's hosts and presenters will include Funny Girl's Jane Lynch and Ramin Karimloo, Jelani Alladin, Jeff Hiller and Murray Hill. Guests also include Anna Deavere Smith, Bonnie Milligan, David Cromer, David Henry Hwang…

A Complete 2022 Broadway Awards Season Calendar / April 25, 2022 by David Hwang

The 2022 theatre awards season is quickly approaching, and keeping track of all of the important dates for the many ceremonies and their corresponding nomination announcements is no easy feat. Stay up to date on all the need-to-know facts with BroadwayWorld's full Awards Season Calendar below!

37TH ANNUAL LORTEL AWARDS

Nominations: April 7
Announced by- Lilli Cooper and Lea DeLaria
View the nominees!

Ceremony: May 1, 7pm ET at NYU Skirball Center
Host- TBA
Special Awards- Deirdre O'Connell (Lifetime Achievement Award) and David Henry Hwang (Playwrights' Sidewalk Inductee)

See more at Broadway World

Update on CHESS Broadway Production and AIDA / April 25, 2022 by David Hwang

Tim Rice revealed in a tweet that he is set to fly to New York for discussions about Aida, and the Broadway revival of Chess.

Rice previously revealed that plans are underway for a Broadway revival of Chess.

"All in all, despite enumerable mishandlings, Chess has more than held its own on the stages of the world. And we plan to come back to Broadway one day fairly soon. A team is in place."

A North American tour of Elton John and Tim Rice's Tony-winning Broadway smash Aida was previously set to premiere at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2021. Broadway World previously revealed in 2020, that the musical would no longer be a part of Paper Mill's season. Disney Theatric Productions President Thomas Schumacher revealed to the New York Times that Aida will open in Germany in 2022.

The production was previously set to play Charlotte, Chicago, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Nashville, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., among other cities following its run at Paper Mill.

The new production, updated and re-imagined, retains the beloved Tony and Grammy-winning score and features a book revised by David Henry Hwang, who co-authored the acclaimed original production with Linda Woolverton and Robert Falls.

Read more at Broadway World

Columbia University School Of The Arts Presents New Plays Festival / April 18, 2022 by David Hwang

Columbia University School of the Arts presents an expanded festival of new plays written by Columbia MFA Playwriting Students. The esteemed faculty who have nurtured these students, including Tony©, Pulitzer, and Obie Award winners such as David Henry Hwang, Lynn Nottage, Charles Mee, and Rogelio Martinez invite you to experience these innovative new playwrights.

This is the first round of our New Plays Festival presenting the work of the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Playwrights of Columbia's MFA Theatre Program. The festival will run continuously throughout the summer.

From the Head of Playwriting, DavidHenry Hwang: "These plays have been created by visionary writers under extraordinary circumstances. Some were originally scheduled to be produced as far back as 2020; others were written during the pandemic itself. Like theatre itself, they have survived the shutdown of our art form to come roaring back to life. We are so proud of what our writers have achieved during these challenging and traumatic times. Enjoy the rebirth!"

Read more at Broadway World

‘Kimberly Akimbo’, ‘Assassins’, ‘Prayer For The French Republic’ Score Off Broadway Lortel Award Nominations – Complete List / April 9, 2022 by David Hwang

Kimberly Akimbo, Assassins, Prayer for the French Republic and The Chinese Lady were among the Off Broadway productions receiving multiple nominations for this year’s Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off Broadway, announced today.

Among the innovations in this year’s 37th Annual Lortel Awards are the first non-gendered performance categories, and the first-ever Lortel for Outstanding Ensemble. In the new Ensemble category, the inaugural nominees are the casts of English, Oratorio For Living Things, and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.

Kimberly Akimbo and Oratorio For Living Things scored the most nominations, with six each, while Black No More and On Sugarland received five. Assassins, Prayer for the French Republic and The Chinese Lady each have four nominations.

HONORARY AWARDS
Lifetime Achievement Award
Deirdre O’Connell

Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee
David Henry Hwang

‘Kimberly Akimbo’, ‘Assassins’, ‘Prayer For The French Republic’ Score Off Broadway Lortel Award Nominations – Complete List / April 9, 2022 by David Hwang

HONORARY AWARDS
Lifetime Achievement Award
Deirdre O’Connell

Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee
David Henry Hwang

San Francisco Playhouse Announces 20th Season / April 7, 2022 by David Hwang

San Francisco Playhouse’s 20th Anniversary Season to feature INDECENT, AS YOU LIKE IT, CASHED OUT, CLUE, CHINGLISH, and A CHORUS LINE.

San Francisco Playhouse announced today the six plays that will comprise its 2022/23 Season. This marks the company's 20th season since its founding in 2003 and celebrates the company's commitment to producing bold, challenging, and uplifting plays and musicals for the Bay Area community. The season will begin in September 2022.

"Twenty years ago, we opened our doors and stated our purpose, 'to create a warm and nurturing environment for the sharing of dreams, secrets, fears, hopes, grief, and joy because it's safe to bring all of ourselves to this playground,'" said Bill English, Artistic Director. "Over the years, these noble goals morphed into our signature: The Empathy Gym. For this, our 20th Anniversary season, we share our joy and gratitude to be pursuing our calling to promote empathy and compassion through theatre. This season is dedicated to the resilience and relevance of the Empathy Gym, the performing arts, and the human spirit."

The San Francisco Playhouse 2022/23 Season will begin with Indecent by Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel, followed by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery's musical adaptation of Shakespeare's As You Like It. The new year will begin with the world premiere of Cashed Out by Claude Jackson, Jr., a San Francisco Playhouse commission that had its inception in the company's popular streaming Zoomlet play development series, followed by the beloved cult classic Clue, based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn and written by Sandy Rustin. Next, the Playhouse will stage Chinglish by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, a hilarious comedy about the challenges of underlying cultural assumptions. The season will close with A Chorus Line, the legendary musical by Marvin Hamlisch, Edward Kleban, James Kirkwood, and Nicholas Dante, a production that was originally planned for the Playhouse's 2020/21 Season.

Read more at Broadway World

2022 Lucille Lortel Award Nominations Announced Live on Playbill April 7 / April 7, 2022 by David Hwang

POTUS stars Lilly Cooper and Lea DeLaria will announce nominees for the Off-Broadway honors.

Nominees for the 37th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards, honoring the best in Off-Broadway theatre, will be announced live on Playbill April 7. Watch POTUS stars Lilli Cooper and Lea DeLaria announce the nominees above from 12 noon ET.

Produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre with additional support provided by TDF, the awards will be handed out May 1 at NYU Skirball Center beginning at 7 PM.

Deirdre O'Connell will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's ceremony, following her 2020 Lortel win for Outstanding Solo Show for her performance in Dana H. at the Vineyard Theatre; she subsequently reprised her role for the work's 2021 Broadway run. David Henry Hwang will also be added to the Playwrights' Sidewalk. Located in front of Off-Broadway's Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street, the sidewalk-embedded stars are New York's only permanent monument to Off-Broadway playwrights.

Cooper and DeLaria are currently preparing to bring POTUS, Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive to Broadway along with co-stars Rachel Dratch, Julianne Hough, Suzy Nakamura, Julie White, and Vanessa Williams. Directed by Tony winner Susan Stroman and written by newcomer Selina Fillinger, the comedic play centers on a PR nightmare that befalls the White House, with seven female support staff risking everything to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble. POTUS begins at Broadway's Shubert Theatre April 14, with opening night set for April 27.

‘Indecent,’ ‘Chinglish’ and ‘A Chorus Line’ among SF Playhouse’s 2022-23 season / April 7, 2022 by David Hwang

The Union Square company's 20th-anniversary season comprises six shows including works by Paula Vogel and David Henry Hwang.

Chugging ahead with pandemic recovery, San Francisco Playhouse is producing six shows, including works by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel and Tony Award winner and Stanford graduate David Henry Hwang, in its 2022-23 season.

The 20th anniversary lineup, which the Union Square company announced Monday, April 4, commences with Vogel’s “Indecent” (Sept. 22-Nov. 6), which ran on Broadway in 2017. The play dramatizes the 1923 Broadway production of Sholem Asch’s “The God of Vengeance,” which was blasted at the time as “indecent,” among other epithets, for its portrayals of lesbian love and Jewish prostitution.