Inside Apex For Youth's Inspiration Awards Gala / April 7, 2024 by David Hwang

The 32nd annual event honored the actor and advocate Constance Wu.

No amount of rain could've prevented the attendees of Apex For Youth's 32nd Inspiration Awards Gala, co-chaired by Melody Lee, Aya Kanai, and Ray Chan, from congregating within Cipriani South on April 2. Constance Wu, the star of Crazy Rich Asians and Fresh off The Boat, was the evening's honoree, chosen because of her contributions to raising awareness around mental health in the Asian-American community.

"It is very flattering and I'm very grateful," she told T&C. In a packed crowd, she was hard to miss. Wu shone amongst the evening's guests–which included fashion designer Maria Cornejo and Peter Som, actor BD Wong, artist KAWS, and playwright David Henry Hwang–donning a silver sparkling dress designed by young Asian-American designer, Andrew Kwon. If that wasn't enough to draw attention, there was a detachable bow on the back of the dress.

Jill Krementz Photo Journal: Celebrating World Theatre Day / April 7, 2024 by David Hwang

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American Theatre Wing Partners with Drama Book Shop to Launch Monthly Play Reading Club / April 7, 2024 by David Hwang

The club will offer both in-person and virtual programming to engage the theatre community across the nation.

The American Theatre Wing and Midtown's beloved Drama Book Shop have partnered to launch a monthly play-reading club, The Playreaders Club. The club will offer both in-person and virtual programming to engage the theatre community across the nation.

Each play will be selected by a committee of theatre artists, experts and industry members from the American Theatre Wing Board and Advisory members. This includes Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori (Kimberly Akimbo), Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), Tony Award-winning costume and scenic designer Clint Ramos (Once On This Island), theatre journalist and producer Ayanna Prescod (Pass Over), Tony Award-winning director Leigh Silverman(Violet), journalist and author Patrick Pacheco, and talent agent Ben Sands.

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High Fidelity: Audible Rides Audio Boom with Big Investments in Original Content / April 7, 2024 by David Hwang

Daniel Dae Kim among notables producing high-end projects for Amazon-owned audio pioneer.

Kim, the star of ABC’s “Lost” and “The Good Doctor,” sees audio content as a promising canvas for his 3AD production banner. The company signed a first-look development deal with Audible in early 2023, and its first production, a staging of David Henry Hwang’s 2007 play “Yellow Face,” premieres May 2. The work that Kim and Hwang did for the Audible production was the catalyst for “Yellow Face” landing a spot on the Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2025 season, with Kim starring.

“There’s such an opportunity here for content developed for TV and film to have audio companion pieces or to extend cinematic universes in ways that we haven’t thought of yet,” Kim says.

Daniel Dae Kim on ‘Avatar’ and activism / April 7, 2024 by David Hwang

Elvis Mitchell with Daniel Dae Kim at KCRW.Photo credit: Rebecca Mooney.

Actor and producer Daniel Dae Kim has had an active career on screen and behind the camera, He has also routinely used his public platform for good, particularly when it came to denouncing discrimination against Asian Americans during the pandemic.

Kim’s starring roles have included the smash hit TV series Lost and the reboot of Hawaii Five-O. In the fall of 2024, you’ll find him leading the David Henry Hwang drama Yellow Face on Broadway. He’s currently appearing in the Netflix series Avatar: The Last Airbender and is a producer of the ABC drama series The Good Doctor. Kim tells The Treatment about starting out as a young actor and quickly learning that he might struggle to find leading roles. He tells us why he didn’t take the lead role in The Good Doctor for himself. Plus, he shares his excitement about returning to Broadway.

David Henry Hwang Opera An American Soldier Finds Full Cast / March 6, 2024 by David Hwang

David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo Matthew Murphy

The opera with music by Huang Ruo will be directed by Chay Yew at Perelman Performing Arts Center.

Casting for the New York premiere of An American Soldier has been announced. Huang Ruo's opera, with a libretto by David Henry Hwang, will play at the Perelman Performing Arts Center May 12-19 in a production directed by Chay Yew. Carolyn Kuan will conduct.

An American Soldier is based on the true story of Private Danny Chen, whose death in 2011 was followed by an investigation and subsequent court-martial of his fellow soldiers.

The PAC NYC cast includes tenor Brian Vu as Danny Chen, mezzo-soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen as his mother, soprano Hannah Cho as his school friend Josephine Young, and baritone Alex DeSocio as Sgt. Aaron Marcum, one of the soldiers charged in the investigation. They are joined by Ben Brady, Cierra Byrd, James C Harris, Shelén Hughes, Joshua Sanders, Christian Simmons, Misoon Ghim, Luke Harnish, and Angela Yam.

An American Soldier will include scenic design by Daniel Ostling, costume design by Linda Cho, lighting design by Jeanette Yew, and multi-media design by Nick Hussong.

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Live Performance in New York: Here’s What to See This Spring / February 24, 2024 by David Hwang

Andrew Stenson and Mika Shigematsu in the Opera Theater of St. Louis’s production of “An American Soldier.” A new staging at the Perelman Performing Arts Center will be directed by Chay Yew.Credit...Ken Howard

‘AN AMERICAN SOLDIER’ It’s a small miracle whenever a contemporary opera gets a revival, much less a second production. But this work, by Huang Ruo, with a libretto by David Henry Hwang, is about to get its third, at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. The earliest form of the opera — the tragic true story of Pvt. Danny Chen, who grew up in Manhattan’s Chinatown and enlisted in the Army, then was found dead at his base in Afghanistan — premiered in Washington as a one-act in 2014. I saw an expanded, two-act version at Opera Theater of St. Louis in 2018. Even in rehearsal, I was immediately struck by its smartly controlled stylistic eclecticism, its underlying tension of anxiety and aspiration, and its libretto’s ability to remain propulsive while jumping back and forth between a courtroom drama and flashbacks. This latest staging will be directed by Chay Yew, of “Cambodian Rock Band” and “Sweatshop Overlord.” May 12-19 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, Manhattan. (J.B.)

The Metropolitan Opera's 2024-25 Season: house premieres of Moby-Dick, Antony and Cleopatra, and Ainadamar in the coming season. / February 24, 2024 by David Hwang

The Met premieres will continue in October with Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar. The opera, with a libretto by Tony winner David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), is based on the life of poet Federico García Lorca, who was arrested and executed by the Falange during the Spanish Civil War because of his politics and his sexuality. Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack plays Lorca, who is brought to life in the memories of actress Margarita Xirgu, a role shared by sopranos Angel Blue and Gabriella Reyes. Soprano Elena Villalón plays Xirgu’s student Nuria, and Flamenco singer Alfredo Tejada plays the Falangist politician Ramón Ruiz Alonso. Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducts the production by director-choreographer Deborah Colker, both making their Met debuts.

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Disneys Musical TARZAN® verlängert in Stuttgart bis Sommer 2025 / February 24, 2024 by David Hwang

Disneys Musical TARZAN®: Terence van der Loo schwingt sich als Dschungelheld Tarzan durch den Musicalsaal (Bild: Johan Persson / Stage Entertainment)

Disneys Musical TARZAN® feierte im November 2023 ein spektakuläres Comeback in Stuttgart. Nur drei Monate nach der Premiere knackt die Show mit den Welthits von Phil Collins die Verkaufsmarke von 250.000 Tickets. Aufgrund dieses Erfolgs wird die Neuinszenierung bis Sommer 2025 verlängert! Fans können sich bald auch über eine neue Hauptdarstellerin freuen: Ab Ende März 2024 kommt Musicalstar Judith Caspari (u. a. ANASTASIA) auf die Stuttgarter Bühne zurück und übernimmt die Rolle der Jane.

Disneys Musical TARZAN® kommt bei den Zuschauer:innen so gut an, dass Stage Entertainment nur drei Monate nach der Premiere einen Rekordverkauf verzeichnet: „Wir sind absolut überwältigt, welchen Zuspruch Disneys TARZAN® erhält – 250.000 verkaufte Tickets so kurz nach Showstart sind ein unglaublicher Erfolg“, sagt Antonio Schmidt, Leiter des Stage Palladium Theaters, und ergänzt: „Wir haben es geschafft, dass die Gäste selbst zu einem Teil der Show werden – sicherlich eines der spannenden Highlights, das die Neuauflage bereithält und die Musicalzuschauer:innen in ihren Bann zieht.“

Musicalbesucher:innen haben nun bis Sommer 2025 die Möglichkeit, Disneys Musical TARZAN® im Stage Palladium in Stuttgart zu erleben.

The Met Opera’s New Season: What We Want to See / February 24, 2024 by David Hwang

In an effort to program contemporary works, the company will present recent operas by Jeanine Tesori, John Adams, Jake Heggie and Osvaldo Golijov.

Contemporary works will be front and center in the coming season, the Metropolitan Opera announced on Wednesday, with four company premieres among its six new productions.

The 2024-25 season will open in September with “Grounded,” about the toll of drone warfare, by Jeanine Tesori and George Brant, and will also feature the modern works “Moby-Dick,” by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer; “Ainadamar,” by Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang and “Antony and Cleopatra,” by John Adams. It will be the fifth opera by Adams that the Met has presented, putting him in the same category as Tchaikovsky and Bellini.

David Henry Hwang’s 'Billion Dollar Whale' TV Adaptation Features Team of Columbia Artists / February 17, 2024 by David Hwang

Professor David Henry Hwang is leading the creation of Billion Dollar Whale, a new television series from SK Global and Westward, which Hwang is adapting from the bombshell book of the same name. Hwang also serves as Executive Producer on the show alongside Film alumnus and co-founder of Westward Productions, Beau Willimon '03 (CC '99)—and those aren't the only Columbia connections. Nearly all the members of the show's producing and writing teams are Columbia alumni, many of them graduates of the Theatre Program.

Dramaturgy alumna Anchuli Felicia King ’18 is another executive producer for the series, and Adjunct Assistant Professor Rogelio Martinez '96 is a co-producer. Working closely with Hwang in the writers' room are Playwriting alums Daniel Rattner '20 and Luz Lorenzana Twigg '23—who serve as Writer's Assistant and Production Assistant, respectively—and Sylvia Khoury (CC '12), who serves as Story Editor. Both Twigg and Rattner studied under Hwang, and Twigg was recently published alongside Hwang in Decentered Playwriting, a theatre textbook.

Written by Wall Street Journal correspondents Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, Billion Dollar Whale details the exploits of Malaysian fugitive businessman Jho Low, who manipulated the Malaysian Prime Minister at the time to create a sovereign wealth fund that Low was able to exploit for his own interests. The fraud is considered one of the largest in history and Low is under investigation by authorities in Malaysia, Luxembourg, Singapore, Switzerland, and by the U.S. Department of Justice. The book was a bestseller and made its writers finalists for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize

American Theatre Wing and Drama Book Shop partner for Playreaders Club / February 17, 2024 by David Hwang

Tony Award winners David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori are part of the play-selection committee. (Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images; Bruce Glikas/Getty Images)

A different play will be discussed each month.

The American Theatre Wing, co-presenter of the Tony Awards and an organization dedicated to supporting the growth of American theater, has teamed with theDrama Book Shop to launch the Playreaders Club, a meetup for reading and discussing plays. The monthly meetings will be held virtually via Zoom and in-person at the Drama Book Shop, a midtown Manhattan independent bookstore dedicated to plays, theater-related books and other works of dramatic literature.

Each play will be selected by a committee made up of members of the Wing’s board and advisory committee. This includes Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori, Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang, Tony-winning costume and scenic designer Clint Ramos, influencer, journalist and producer Ayanna Prescod, Tony-winning director Leigh Silverman, journalist and author Patrick Pacheco and talent agent Ben Sands.

Surae at Sundance Sits Down with Actor Daniel Dae Kim / January 27, 2024 by David Hwang

SALT LAKE CITY (Good Things Utah) – Surae sat down with Actor and Producer Daniel Dae Kim at Sundance. The prolific actor has appeared on the big and small screen on Lost, Hawaii Five-0, CSI, Star Trek, The S.H.I.E.L.D, Hulk, Joyride. Kim made history last year at Sundance when he brought the first Asian multicultural house on Main Street in Park City for the film festival. For the second year in a row, Sunrise Collective House made a presence at the 40th Sundance Film Festival in partnership with Gold House Co., The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), and Kim’s production company 3AD.

Kim says it’s not just representation but sharing stories of Asian Americans. The other stars who stopped into the Sunrise Collective House were Lucy Liu, Steven Yeun, and Chrissy Tiegen.

Kim is looking forward to several projects this year. He will be starring in the live action series on Netflix: Avatar: The Last Airbender. He’s now heading to South Korea for a film and then will appear on Broadway this fall in the production of David Henry Hwang’s comedy ‘Yellow Face,’ to be directed by Tony Award nominee Leigh Silverman.

Professor David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face Heads to Broadway / January 27, 2024 by David Hwang

Playwriting professor David Henry Hwang’s Obie-award-winning play, Yellow Face, is headed to Broadway in a new Roundabout Theatre Company production premiering September at the Todd Haimes Theatre. The production marks Hwang’s ninth Broadway show.

Based on the controversy that surrounded the 1991 production of Miss Saigon, when white British actor Jonathan Price was cast as the Engineer, a Eurasian character, the play centers around a fictional version of Hwang, DHH, as he mounts his 1993 play Face Value, based on the controversy. DHH begins Yellow Faceprotesting the use of yellowface in Miss Saigon, but finds himself embroiled in conflict when he accidentally casts a white actor in a lead Asian role in his own play.

Off Broadway Obie Awards To Ditch Annual Ceremony In Favor Of Winner Grants, Ending 68-Year Tradition / January 27, 2024 by David Hwang

Heidi Schreck accepting a 2019 Obie for 'What The Constitution Means To Me'
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for the 2019 Obie Awards.

The Obie Awards, the venerable honors for outstanding Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway productions, is doing away with its annual ceremony and will instead use the funds to provide winners with grants ranging from $1,000-$5,000.

Heather Hitchens, the president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, which presents the Obies, called the grants a new path forward for the awards, saying the move “genuinely reflects the ethos of the Awards as well as the Off & Off Off Broadway movements – which is to continuously evolve and meet the moment.”

Select winners of this year’s 67th Obie Awards will be announced Saturday on New York’s Spectrum News NY1 as a special presentation of the channel’s On Stage program hosted by Frank DiLella. The special airs at 7:30 p.m./ET.

‘Pirates of Penzance,’ ‘English’ and ‘Yellow Face’ Bound for Broadway / January 12, 2024 by David Hwang

Daniel Dae Kim, left, will star in the play “Yellow Face,” while Ramin Karimloo, center, and David Hyde Pierce, right, will lead a revival of the musical “The Pirates of Penzance” on Broadway next season.Credit...From left: Isabel Infantes/Reuters; Cindy Ord/Getty Images For SiriusXM; Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Roundabout Theater Company, the biggest nonprofit on Broadway, said it would produce the three shows next season.

Roundabout Theater Company, the biggest nonprofit operating on Broadway, is planning to stage a jazz-inflected production of “The Pirates of Penzance,” Gilbert and Sullivan’s famed 19th-century comic operetta, in the spring of 2025, the organization said Tuesday.

Next season it also plans to stage the first Broadway productions of two plays: “English,” Sanaz Toossi’s work about a group of Iranians trying to learn English, which won last year’s Pulitzer Prize in drama, and “Yellow Face,” David Henry Hwang’s semi-autobiographical play sparked by the controversy over the castingof a white performer as a Eurasian character in the original production of “Miss Saigon.”

All three shows will be staged at the Todd Haimes Theater, which is currently called the American Airlines but is about to be renamedfor the Roundabout chief executive and artistic director who died last year after four decades with the organization.

Daniel Dae Kim talks about returning to Broadway in ‘Yellow Face’ / January 12, 2024 by David Hwang

In this exclusive interview, the actor and producer reveals how the upcoming production came to be, his admiration for playwright David Henry Hwang and his onstage roots.

Daniel Dae Kim stood in a studio with playwright David Henry Hwang and director Leigh Silverman recording the audio version of Hwang’s play “Yellow Face” when the trio looked at each other and asked: “Why isn’t this on Broadway? Why hasn’t this been on Broadway?” Kim recalled.

First mounted in 2007 by Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, “Yellow Face” follows a playwright named DHH who protests the casting of non-Asian actor Jonathan Pryce as a Vietnamese character in “Miss Saigon.” As DHH’s protests largely go unanswered, he writes a play called “Face Value” about the “Miss Saigon” controversy and casts an actor who he believes is part Asian in one of the lead Asian roles — only to find out that the actor is fully white.

‘Yellow Face,’ Starring Daniel Dae Kim, Opening On Broadway in September / January 12, 2024 by David Hwang

Roundabout Theatre Company will also produce a revival of 'Pirates of Penzance,' starring David Hyde Pierce and Ramin Karimloo.

Daniel Dae Kim will star in the Broadway premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face next season.

The play, which is inspired by real events, follows a playwright protesting the casting of white actors playing Asian roles in Miss Saigon, and then mistakenly casting a white actor as an Asian lead in his own play. Yellow Face, directed by Leigh Silverman, is scheduled to start previews at what will be the newly renamed Todd Haimes Theatre (formerly the American Airlines Theatre but renamed after the death of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s artistic director) in September 2024.

Bay Area theater scene bounced back in 2023 — here were 10 top shows / January 4, 2024 by David Hwang

Like their fellows all over the country, Bay Area theaters are still slowly recovering from the pandemic, rebuilding audiences while often cutting back on staff and shows in their seasons. Some, like Berkeley’s TheatreFIRST, have closed their doors, while others, such as TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, had emergency fundraising campaigns.

And then there’s a few that have proven unforgettable. Here are 10 standout shows that have stuck with us for one reason or another, or for all the reasons in the world.

“Chinglish,” San Francisco Playhouse: David Henry Hwang’s comedy about a fish-out-of-water American businessman trying to brazen his way through the intricate subtext of doing business in China was hilarious when it played Berkeley Rep back in 2012, and it’s only gotten better as Hwang has revised it. That was especially true in director Jeffrey Lo’s superb staging at SF Playhouse, with a terrific cast headed by Michael Barrett Austin as the hapless entrepreneur and Nicole Tung as the government functionary who helps him navigate for her own reasons.

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center to Honor Lynn Nottage with 22nd Annual Monte Cristo Award and Gala / November 7, 2023 by David Hwang

Nottage, the first and only woman to receive two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama, was in residence at the O'Neill in 2006.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center has announced that it will present the 22nd annual Monte Cristo Award to playwright and screenwriter Lynn Nottage. Nottage will be honored with a gala celebration Monday, November 6, at Capitale in New York City.

Nottage was in residence at the O'Neill in 2006 while writing her Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined. She received a second Pulitzer for her 2015 play Sweat, making her the first and only woman to receive the honor twice.

The 2023 gala is directed by Seret Scott, and will feature special performances by Quincy Tyler Bernstein, Tonya Pinkins, Jason Bowen, Gabby Beans, Stacey Sargeant, CJ Wilson and Joyce Sylvester, among others. The evening’s gala committee includes Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stephen & Ruth Hendel, David Henry Hwang, Genia Kaplan Quinn & Dr. Bruce Quinn, Dominique Morisseau, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, The Nederlander Organization, Tom Viertel & Pat Daily, and Constanza Romero Wilson.

Read more at Playbill