Interview with M. Butterfly star Clive Owen / November 2, 2017 by David Hwang

The New York Theatre Guide recently caught up with Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Clive Owen. The British actor is currently starring as Rene Gallimard in the first-ever Broadway revival of David Henry Hwang's Tony Award-winning play M. Butterfly, directed with a stylized, Brechtian touch by Tony Award winner Julie Taymor. Mr. Owen made his Broadway debut in September 2015 as Deeley in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Harold Pinter's Old Times at the American Airlines Theatre. We were curious to find out what keeps bringing him back to the stage and how he developed the intimate connection with his co-star Jin Ha...

Read the interview at NewYorkTheatreGuide.com

M. Butterfly is Back and Better Than Before / October 30, 2017 by David Hwang

Frank H. Wu, Contributor
Author, Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White

"Playwright David Henry Hwang is not aware of this, but as a journalist I have long looked up to him as an older brother type figure. That would be appropriate in the Chinese culture from which we both are descended, and even in the American culture to which each of us has assimilated. He is not only a bona fide writer; he is a commercially successful one. Hwang’s big hit, M. Butterfly, has been revived on Broadway with a touched-up script, directed by Julie Taymor of Lion King fame and Spiderman infamy, starring Clive Owen, the cerebral action hero in movies such as Children of Men and the BMW short ads. I saw it immediately, and I was impressed. What follows is an appreciation, not a proper review. Hwang and I have had maybe a half-dozen conversations since as a student a decade younger I invited him to speak on campus, and he told me as I drove him from the airport that his parents had wanted him to become a lawyer. We are friendly enough I would not presume to evaluate his work. His achievement deserves admiration though: he has expressed what many of us have thought halfway but not been able to put into words clearly. There is nobody else doing what he does."

Read the full article at Huffingtonpost.com

How Broadway's Groundbreaking Play 'M. Butterfly' Has Transformed for a New Generation / October 27, 2017 by David Hwang

Bruce Glikas/Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic - From left, playwright David Henry Hwang, Jin Ha, director Julie Tamor and Clive Owen

M. Butterfly has transformed for a new generation.

The first major New York revival of the Tony-winning play stars Clive Owen as a married French diplomat who has a 20-year relationship with a beautiful opera performer who spies on him for the Chinese government. Directed by Julie Taymor, the staging has an updated script by original playwright David Henry Hwang.

“It’s an amazing play, but it was written 30 years ago and things have changed,” Clive Owen told The Hollywood Reporter after Thursday’s opening night performance at the Cort Theatre. “It’s still a story about two people who created a world for themselves that worked for them, and when it became public, everything came crashing down and they were vilified. The heart of the play is still there — it had a huge impact and hopefully it still will.”

Jin Ha Earns His Wings in New M. Butterfly Broadway Revival / October 25, 2017 by David Hwang

There are Broadway debuts, and then there are Broadway debuts that merit their own reaction GIF. Enter Jin Ha. Two years ago, he was studying acting at NYU, and now he’s been chosen by Julie Taymor to star in her revival of M. Butterfly, one of the most anticipated shows of the year.

“Trust me, it’s unbelievable,” says Ha, sitting at a French bistro in Manhattan’s theater district. “If I were to hear this third-person, I’d be like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ "

David Henry Hwang updates Tony Award-winning ‘M. Butterfly’ / October 20, 2017 by David Hwang

Clive Owen, left, and Jin Ha in "M. Butterfly." Photo Credit: Josef Astor

"Nearly 30 years later, after turning down various offers to revive it, Hwang has updated the script, and a new production — directed by Julie Taymor (“The Lion King”) and starring Clive Owen as the diplomat, Gallimard — will open at the Cort Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 26."

5 ARTISTS ON HOW ‘M. BUTTERFLY’ CHANGED THEIR LIVES / October 18, 2017 by David Hwang

BD Wong in 2016, 28 years after his Broadway breakout in “M. Butterfly.”CreditTodd Heisler/The New York Times

Asian-American actors and playwrights describe how David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly inspired their work. They spoke to Laura Collins-Hughes about the lasting effects of this 1988 play.

New Flight for 'Butterfly' / October 18, 2017 by David Hwang

Clive Owen as a French diplomat in the Broadway revival of David Henry Hwang’s “M. Butterfly.” Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Read Laura Collins-Hughes interview with David Henry Hwang about the revival of his Broadway hit M. Butterfly, directed by Julie Taymor, starring Clive Owen.

From the New York Times

DAVID HENRY HWANG TO PRESENT KESSELRING PRIZE TO LAUREN YEE / October 16, 2017 by David Hwang

Tony-winning M. Butterfly playwright David Henry Hwang will present Lauren Yee with the Kesselring Prize for Playwriting from the National Arts Club at a ceremony at the historic clubhouse in New York City November 5.

The event will kick off at 4 PM with readings of select scenes from Yee’s plays, followed by a gala reception. The readings and award ceremony is free and open to the public. To reserve tickets, contact Kesselring@thenationalartsclub.org.

Candace Chong's WILD BOAR, adapted by David Henry Hwang, Starts Previews Nov 9th at Silk Road Rising / October 12, 2017 by David Hwang

Silk Road Rising (Chief Programming Officer and Mission Trustee, Jamil Khoury and Founding Executive Director, Malik Gillani) is proud to announce the U.S. Premiere of Wild Boar, written by Candace Chong, translated from Chinese to English by Joanna C. Lee and Ken Smith, adapted by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, and directed by Helen Young. The production will run November 9th to December 17th, 2017 at Silk Road Rising located at 77 W. Washington St., Lower Level, Chicago, IL, 60602. The Press Opening is Saturday, November 18th at 4:00pm.

"We love Wild Boar not only because it's smart, sexy, and topical, but because, in a rare combination, it exudes both confidence and self-doubt simultaneously. It builds and unpacks all at once, seemingly unable to differentiate right from wrong without flip-flopping, which is part of the play's inherent strength. At a time when journalism, governance, nation-states, and citizenship all feel in flux, Wild Boar probes those feelings with an air of mystery, flirtatiousness, and whodunit intrigue. " - Chief Programming Officer and Mission Trustee, Jamil Khoury

Let the world hear the aria of Baoyu -- English Opera Dream of the Red Chamber performs in Beijing / October 11, 2017 by David Hwang

Photo of English opera Dream of the Red Chamber, Photograph by Luo Wei, Guang Ming Daily. — Photo of English opera Dream of the Red Chamber, Photograph by Luo Wei, Guang Ming Daily.

Dream of the Red Chamber is the pinnacle of Chinese literature. But in fact, not many people in the western world have ever heard of it. In a certain sense, this opera is following a grand opera tradition, which began with Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Turandot, by blending eastern and western cultures. Before the English opera Dream of the Red Chamber, when people talk about Chinese-themed opera, they always first think about Turandot and the music Jasmine in that opera. Of course, the DaGuanYuan (Grand View Garden) in the English opera Dream of the Red Chamber is very different from the imagined Oriental world in Puccini's operas.

"In the 19th century of the western world, artists put the Oriental elements from their imagination into their works that were dominated by western values," says the playwright, David Henry Hwang. "But in our work, at least, we treat Chinese and western culture equally. Our work is not a hodgepodge, but a music work with distinctive features."

In the past 30 years, at least two TV shows have been adapted from Dream of the Red Chamber. "The popularity of the 1987 version of Dream of the Red Chamber in China is like BBC’s 1996 version of Pride and Prejudice (in the western world). It's certainly not a bad thing to have people re-discuss the novel because of an opera, in that way many people who have never heard of it now know it.” Hwang said, "It is important to let the world hear the aria of Baoyu."

Behind the Scenes of the Long-Awaited Revival M. Butterfly / October 6, 2017 by David Hwang

M. Butterfly co-stars Clive Owen and Jin Ha, photographed in London.Photograph by Julian Broad. — *M. Butterfly* co-stars Clive Owen and Jin Ha, photographed in London.Photograph by Julian Broad.

"The succès de scandale of the 1988–89 Broadway season, David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly tells of a French diplomat whose politically ill-advised affair with an androgynous performer in the Chinese opera takes him places he never imagined, including prison. Deftly exploring Western stereotyping of Asians, M. Butterfly won the 1988 Tony Award for best play and ran for an astonishing 777 performances."

Julie Taymor Once Again Pushes the Boundaries of Theatre With M. Butterfly / October 6, 2017 by David Hwang

The Tony-winning director transforms David Henry Hwang’s play physically and emotionally for its first Broadway revival.

Read the full story at Playbill.com.

VIDEO: Working in the Theatre: Playwriting / October 4, 2017 by David Hwang

See David Henry Hwang talk about a life working in the theatre, from the American Theatre Wing

M. Butterfly adds a preview performance with $25 tickets for students / September 22, 2017 by David Hwang

The upcoming revival of David Henry Hwang's Tony-winning play M. Butterfly has added a special preview performance on Saturday, October 14, at 2pm. For this special performance only, M. Butterfly has set aside 100 prime front orchestra seats to be available to students for $25. These student tickets are available in person only at the Cort Theatre Box Office on the day of the performance (one ticket per valid student ID). The box office will open at 10am on October 7.

Talk With Playwright David Henry Hwang / September 20, 2017 by David Hwang

David Henry Hwang will talk about the story and themes behind his award-winning play M. Butterfly, and the artistic approach of its new Broadway production to open this fall. He will be interviewed at the China Institute by NY1’s theater reporter Frank DiLella, the host of the weekly program “On State.

Find out more at TribecaTrib.com

Buzz about M. Butterfly on Broadway / September 14, 2017 by David Hwang

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Many news outlets are touting M. Butterfly as one of the most exciting shows to be opening on Broadway this fall.

Bruce Springsteen, Amy Schumer and SpongeBob are Broadway's fall stars - NY Daily News

Will the Old Gay Play Have Something New to Say? - NY Times

Fall Broadway Top 10: Look for big stars, from Springsteen to Schumer - Chicago Tribune

Broadway fall season preview of plays: Which will be remembered by the Tony Awards? - Gold Derby

Dream of the Red Chamber kicks off China tour / September 11, 2017 by David Hwang

Scene from the English language opera Dream of the Red Chamber Photo: Courtesy of Armstrong Music & Arts-ZEXI — Scene from the English language opera *Dream of the Red Chamber* Photo: Courtesy of Armstrong Music & Arts-ZEXI

The star-studded English language opera that enchanted San Francisco around this time last year, Dream of the Red Chamber, kicked off its Chinese mainland premiere in Beijing on Friday, returning to the city where the story was first written and published.

Based on the 18th century epic of the same name written by Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) writer Cao Xueqin, the two-act opera was supported by the Minnesota-based Chinese Heritage Foundation and created by a group of prominent Chinese and Chinese-American artists, including MacArthur Fellow Bright Sheng as composer, Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang as co-librettist along with Sheng, Stan Lai as director and Oscar winner Tim Yip as costume and stage designer.

Imported by the Hong Kong-based Armstrong Music & Arts and the Poly Theater to the Chinese mainland, the show will tour to Changsha and Wuhan, the capital cities of Central China's Hunan and Hubei provinces, over the next two weeks following Beijing.

Find out more at globaltimes.cn

DHH will open Beyond Words: An Evening to Benefit Princeton Public Library / September 11, 2017 by David Hwang

Beyond Words: An Evening to Benefit Princeton Public Library takes place this year on Saturday, Nov. 4. Acclaimed playwright, screenwriter and librettist David Henry Hwang will open the event with a talk at 6 p.m. at Nassau Presbyterian Church. Cocktails, dinner and a silent auction follow at the Library.

At Beyond Words, Hwang will speak on "Transformations of a Butterfly: Identity and Creativity in America Today."

Beyond Words is one of the major fundraising events undertaken each year by the Friends of the Princeton Public Library who work to support the library's materials, public programming and community outreach.

Find out more at NJ.com

Silk Road Rising Presents the U.S. Premiere of the WILD BOAR / September 11, 2017 by David Hwang

Silk Road Rising is proud to announce the U.S. Premiere of Wild Boar, written by Candace Chong, translated from Chinese to English by Joanna C. Lee and Ken Smith, adapted by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, and directed by Helen Young. The production will run November 9th to December 17th, 2017 at Silk Road Rising.

Find out more at Broadwayworld.com

Julie Taymor in coming back to Broadway to direct DHH's M. Butterfly / August 25, 2017 by David Hwang

"Julie Taymor can still recall the day nearly 30 years ago when she saw M. Butterfly for the first time. She’d heard about “this fabulous new play by this Asian-American wonderful writer” that was based on a snippet of a true story: A French diplomat in 1960s China, ultimately convicted of espionage, had become entwined in an affair with a Beijing opera singer who wasn’t quite who she appeared to be. Taymor thought the playwright, David Henry Hwang, “had a healthy anger — he had something strong to say about how America treats the East and China in particular. I liked it very much, and that was the end of that."

Read the article at Vulture.com