David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang | |
---|---|
Born | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | August 11, 1957
Occupation | Playwright, screenwriter, television writer, librettist, lyricist |
Education | Stanford University (BA) Yale University (MFA) |
Period | 1980–present |
Genre | Drama |
Subject | Asian-American Identity Gender Politics |
Literary movement | Contemporary Drama |
Notable works | FOB The Dance and the Railroad Family Devotions M. Butterfly Golden Child Flower Drum Song (revival) Yellow Face Chinglish Soft Power |
Spouse |
|
Children | 2 |
David Henry Hwang | |
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Hanyu Pinyin | Huáng Zhélún |
Gwoyeu Romatzyh | Hwang Jerluen |
Wade–Giles | Huang Chelun |
IPA | [xwǎŋ ʈʂɤ̌lwə̌n] |
Yue: Cantonese | |
Jyutping | Wong4 Zit3leon4 |
David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American
Early life
He was born in 1957 in
Career
Trilogy of Chinese America
Hwang's early plays concerned the role of the
Branching out / national success
After this, Papp also produced the show Sound and Beauty, the omnibus title to two Hwang one-act plays set in Japan. At this time, Hwang started to work on projects for the small screen. A television movie, Blind Alleys, written by Hwang and Frederic Kimball and starring Pat Morita and Cloris Leachman, was produced in 1985 and followed a television version of The Dance and the Railroad.[7]
His next play
Hwang's best-known play was
Work post-Butterfly
The success of M. Butterfly prompted Hwang's interests in many other different directions, including work for opera, film, and the musical theatre. Hwang became a frequent collaborator as a librettist with the world-renowned composer Philip Glass.[13]
One of M. Butterfly's Broadway producers,
Throughout the 1990s, Hwang continued to write for the stage, including short plays for the famed
Return to Broadway
In the new millennium, Hwang had two Broadway successes back-to-back. He was asked by director Robert Falls to help co-write the book for the musical Aida (based upon the opera by Giuseppe Verdi). In an earlier version, it had failed in regional theatre tryouts. Hwang and Falls re-wrote a significant portion of the book (by Linda Woolverton). Aida (with music and lyrics by Elton John and Tim Rice) opened in 2000 and proved highly profitable.[18]
His next project was a radical revision of
The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization allowed Hwang to significantly rework the plot, while retaining character names and songs. His 2002 version —both an homage to the original and a modern re-thinking— won him his third Tony nomination.[21] Though Flower Drum Song is often called the first musical with an all-Asian cast, the original production had cast many non-Asians in leading roles, including Caucasians and an African-American (Juanita Hall). But the 2002 revival was produced with an all-Asian cast of actor-singers, and it toured nationally.[20]
Back to The Public
Hwang's 2007 play Yellow Face relates to his play Face Value, which closed in previews on Broadway in the early 1990s. He wrote it in response to a controversy about the casting of Jonathan Pryce in a Eurasian role in Miss Saigon. Face Value, which included music and lyrics for a musical-within-a-play by Hwang, lost millions of dollars. It was a stumbling block in the careers of Hwang and producer Stuart Ostrow.[22]
In Yellow Face, Hwang wrote a semi-autobiographical play, featuring him as the main character in a media farce about mistaken racial identity. This had been also an important element in Face Value.[22]
Hwang also wrote a new short play, The Great Helmsman for the Papp's night of plays: Ten.[24]
Opera
Hwang has continued to work steadily in the world of opera and musical theatre, and has written for children's theatre as well. Hwang co-wrote the English-language libretto for an operatic adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland with music (and part of the libretto) by the Korean composer Unsuk Chin. It received its world premiere at the Bavarian State Opera in 2007 and was released on DVD in 2008.[25]
Hwang wrote the libretto to Howard Shore's opera The Fly, based on David Cronenberg's 1986 film of the same name. The opera premiered on July 2, 2008, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France, with Cronenberg as director and Plácido Domingo conducting.[26]
Hwang wrote the libretto for Tarzan, a musical based on a film by Walt Disney Pictures, which was produced on Broadway.[27]
Hwang also collaborated on the multi-media event Icarus at the Edge of Time, adapted from Brian Greene's novel of the same name. It featured music by Philip Glass and a film by "Al and Al." The piece premiered as part of the World Science Festival.[28]
After its major success at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, Hwang's play,
Hwang's short play
Since 2010
Hwang worked on a theatrical commission for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Arena Stage in Washington, DC. This was a musical version of Aimee Mann's album The Forgotten Arm, with Mann and Paul Bryant. He also worked on screenplays for DreamWorks Animation and directors Justin Lin and Jonathan Caouette.[31] In 2013, a production of Yellow Face premiered on YouTube. It was directed and adapted by Jeff Liu, and featured Sab Shimono among other actors.[32]
In 2014 two new Hwang plays were premiered. The first, Kung Fu, about the life of
In 2014, Hwang joined the Playwriting Faculty of the Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program. He was appointed the director of the Playwriting Concentration and will serve as an Associate Professor of Theatre in Playwriting. Hilton Als of the New Yorker has described him as "the most successful Chinese American playwright this country has produced."[35]
In 2016, Hwang became a writer and consulting producer of the
In the fall of 2016, the San Francisco Opera premiered Dream of the Red Chamber, an opera by Hwang and Bright Sheng, based on the eighteenth-century Chinese novel of the same name.[38] In the summer of 2016, Hwang became the chair of the board of the American Theatre Wing.[39]
In the Spring of 2018, Hwang's Soft Power premiered at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The music and additional lyrics are by Jeanine Tesori. Its cast is largely Asian.[40] It transferred to Off-Broadway at the Public Theater in September 2019 (previews).[41] In May 2020, it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making Hwang the first person to be a three-time finalist without winning.
Works
Plays
- FOB
- The Dance and the Railroad
- Family Devotions
- The House of Sleeping Beauties (based on Yasunari Kawabata's novella House of the Sleeping Beauties)
- The Sound of a Voice
- As the Crow Flies
- Rich Relations
- M. Butterfly
- Bondage
- Face Value
- Trying to Find Chinatown
- Bang Kok
- Golden Child
- Peer Gynt (based on the play by Henrik Ibsen, co-written with Stephan Muller)
- Humana FestivalT[ext] Shirt play)
- Jade Flowerpots and Bound Feet
- Peter Sis' book)
- The Great Helmsman
- Yellow Face
- A Very DNA Reunion
- Chinglish
- Kung Fu
- Cain and Abel
Musical theater
- Book for Aida (music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice; libretto co-written by Linda Woolverton and Robert Falls, based on the opera by Giuseppe Verdi)
- Revised book for a revival of C. Y. Lee and original book by Joseph Fields)
- Book for Tarzan (music and lyrics by Phil Collins, based on the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Walt Disney Pictures film)
- Book and lyrics for Soft Power (music and additional lyrics by Jeanine Tesori)
Opera libretti
- 1000 Airplanes on the Roof (music by Philip Glass)
- The Voyage (music by Philip Glass, libretto [in English, Latin, and Spanish] based on Glass' story)
- The Silver River (music by Bright Sheng)
- The Sound of a Voice (music by Philip Glass, based on Hwang's plays)
- Ainadamar (music by Osvaldo Golijov, libretto in Spanish)
- Alice in Wonderland (music by Unsuk Chin, libretto co-written by Chin, based on the books by Lewis Carroll)
- The Fly (music by Howard Shore, based on the film by David Cronenberg)
- An American Soldier (music by Huang Ruo)
Film/television
- The Dance and the Railroad (Source of Adaptation only)
- Blind Alleys (with Frederic Kimball)
- Forbidden City, U. S. A. (Assistant only)
- Forbidden Nights (story, with Tristine Rainer, based on Judith Shapiro's article "The Rocky Course of Love in China")
- M. Butterfly (based on Hwang's play)
- Golden Gate
- Picture Bride (Script Advisor only)
- The Monkey King(more commonly known as The Lost Empire)
- Possession (with Laura Jones and Neil LaBute, based on the novel by A. S. Byatt)
- Sound of a Voice (Source of Adaptation only)
- White Frog (Executive Producer and Actor only)
- The Affair (Consulting Producer, Writer of episode "206")
Other
- Yellow Punk Dolls (live dance; choreography by Ruby Shang, music by John Zorn)
- Dances in Exile (dance film; choreography by Ruby Shang, film by Howard Silver, music by David Torn, for Alive from Off Center)
- Come (song "Solo;" co-written with Prince (musician))
- After Eros (live dance; choreography by Maureen Fleming, music by Philip Glass)
- Icarus at the Edge of Time (multi-media presentation; music by Philip Glass, film by Al+Al, co-written with Brian Greene, based on Green's novel)
- Yellow Face (YouTube video; Source of Adaptation only)
Appearances
- Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Stories
- The Chinese Americans
- Literary Visions
- Asian Pride Porn
- Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde
- Hollywood Chinese
- Long Story Short
- Joe Papp in Five Acts
- Invitation to World Literature
Forewords/introductions/other texts
- Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution
- Asian American Drama: 9 Plays from the Multiethnic Landscape
- Robot Stories and More Screenplays
- The Flower Drum Song
- The State of Asian America: Activism and Resistance in the 1990s
- The Monkey King (Source of Adaptation Only)
- Murder in San Jose (Translation Adaptation Only)
Honors/recognition
Hwang has been awarded numerous grants, including fellowships from the
Mr. Hwang sits on the boards of the
Hwang holds honorary degrees from Columbia College Chicago, the American Conservatory Theater, Lehigh University, University of Southern California and State University of New York at Purchase.
In 2012, Hwang was named a Fellow of United States Artists.[51]
In 2015, Hwang was named a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow.[52]
In 2018, Hwang earned induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame.[53]
Personal life
Hwang was married to Ophelia Chong from 1985 until their divorce in 1989.[54][55] In 1993, he married actress Kathryn Layng. They have two children together.[56][57]
In November 2015, Hwang was the victim of a stabbing near his home in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The assailant stabbed Hwang in the neck, severing his vertebral artery, before running from the scene. Hwang was seriously injured and underwent surgery before being discharged from the hospital. The attack appeared to be random, as nothing was taken; the assailant was never found. Hwang wrote about the experience in The New York Times.[58][59] The stabbing also inspired a semi-autobiographical portion of Soft Power, in which the lead character, also named David Henry Hwang, is the victim of a random stabbing.
Selected published work
- Broken Promises, New York: Avon, 1983. (out-of-print; includes FOB, The Dance and the Railroad, Family Devotions, and The House of Sleeping Beauties)
- M. Butterfly, New York: Plume, 1988. (Acting edition published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.; audio version available from L. A. Theatre Works; film version available from Warner Bros.)
- 1,000 Airplanes on the Roof, Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, 1989. (Original Music Recording available from Virgin Records)
- Between Worlds: Contemporary Asian-American Plays, New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1990. (includes Hwang's As the Crow Flies and The Sound of a Voice)
- FOB and Other Plays, New York: New American Library, 1990. (out-of-print; includes FOB, The Dance and the Railroad, The House of Sleeping Beauties, The Sound of a Voice, Rich Relations and 1,000 Airplanes on the Roof)
- On a Bed of Rice: An Asian American Erotic Feast, New York: Anchor Books, 1995. (includes Hwang and Prince's Come)
- Golden Child, New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1998. (Acting edition published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.)
- Trying to Find Chinatown: The Selected Plays, New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1999. (includes FOB, The Dance and the Railroad, Family Devotions, The Sound of a Voice, The House of Sleeping Beauties, Bondage, The Voyage, and Trying to Find Chinatown)
- Humana Festival 1999: The Complete Plays, New Hampshire: Smith and Kraus, 1999. (include Hwang's Merchandising)
- Rich Relations, New York: Playscripts, Inc., 2002.
- Flower Drum Song, music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book by David Henry Hwang; based upon the libretto by Oscar Hammerstein, II and Joseph Fields and the novel The Flower Drum Song by C. Y. Lee; New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2003. (Broadway Cast Recording available from DRG)
- 2004: The Best Ten-Minute Plays for Two Actors, New Hampshire: Smith and Kraus, 2003. (includes Hwang's Jade Flowerpots and Bound Feet)
- Peer Gynt (with Stephan Muller), based upon the play by Henrik Ibsen; New York: Playscripts, Inc., 2006.
- Tibet Through the Red Box, based upon the book by Peter Sis; New York: Playscripts, Inc., 2006.
- 2007: The Best Ten-Minute Plays for Three or More Actors, New Hampshire: Smith and Kraus, 2008. (includes Hwang's The Great Helmsman)
- Yellow Face; Theatre Communications Group, 2009. (Acting edition published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.)
- Chinglish; Theatre Communications Group, 2012. (Acting edition published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
References
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ "David Henry Hwang". Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 27, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Tran, Diep (May 3, 2018). "David Henry Hwang: Backward and Forward". American Theatre. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ "Prof. David Henry Hwang Teaches Playwriting and Revives 'M. Butterfly' on Broadway". Columbia University. October 3, 2017. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017.
- ^ Gussow, Mel (May 20, 1990). "Review/Theater; Culture Shock in Hwang's 'F.O.B.'". The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ "1981 Winners". Obie Awards. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ a b Rich, Frank (March 31, 1981). "Stage: 'Dance, Railroad,' by David Henry Hwang". The New York Times.
- ^ Rich, Frank (October 19, 1981). "Theater: Hwang's 'Family Devotions'". The New York Times.
- ^ Coley, David (June 5, 2017). "The Theatre of David Henry Hwang (Review)". Journal of American Drama and Theatre (JADT). 29 (2).
- ^ Rich, Frank (April 22, 1986). "Stage: 'Rich Relations'". The New York Times.
- ^ "Metamorphosis From 'Madama Butterfly' to 'M. Butterfly' and 'Miss Saigon'". Theater Mania. November 7, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ Cigainero, Jake (September 21, 2017). "At 83, the embassy worker at the center of the 'M. Butterfly' story is still an enigma". PRI. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Fox, Margalit (October 11, 1992). "MUSIC : A 'Voyage' Into Uncharted Waters : Philip Glass and crew--David Henry Hwang and David Pountney--venture into new territory at the Met". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (October 1, 1993). "Seduction and the Impossible Dream". The New York Times.
- ^ Hunter, Stephen (January 28, 1994). "Hwang wrestled for years with the story that became 'Golden Gate'". The Baltimore Sun.
- ^ McCarthy, Todd (August 8, 2002). "Possession". Variety.
- ^ Jones, Kenneth (November 13, 2012). "Golden Child, David Henry Hwang's Tale of Polygamy and Family, Opens Nov. 13 in NYC". Playbill.
- ^ Gans, Andrew (January 13, 2016). "SFO Season Will Feature Francesca Zambello-Directed Aida and David Henry Hwang Opera". Playbill.
- ^ Peikert, Mark (December 1, 2018). "Celebrate 60 Years of Flower Drum Song". Playbill.
- ^ a b Hung, Melissa (August 13, 2018). "Six decades ago, 'Flower Drum Song' featured Hollywood's first Asian-American cast". NBC News. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ "Flower Drum Song". PBS. November 18, 2002. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ a b "David Henry Hwang: racial casting has evolved – and so have my opinions". The New York Times. December 11, 2007. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- JSTOR j.ctv6wggqc.
- ISBN 978-1-4725-1208-6.
- ^ "Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonderland". Medici.tv. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Riding, Alan (July 5, 2008). "Trying to Teach 'The Fly' to Soar Operatically". The New York Times. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (July 10, 2011). "Post-Broadway 'Tarzan' swings into North Shore". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Clements, Andrew (July 6, 2010). "Icarus at the Edge of Time". The Guardian. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Healy, Patrick (October 25, 2011). "David Henry Hwang's 'Chinglish'". The New York Times. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ Sierra, Gabrielle (December 4, 2009). "The DNA Trial: A Genealogy of Short Plays About Ancestry, Identity and Utter Confusion Plays Pierce Hall at The Historic Chicago Temple Building 3/10/2010-4/4". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ "The Steven Barclay Agency- David Henry Hwang". Stephen Barclay Agency. 2010. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Ng, David (June 10, 2013). "A play on YouTube? 'Yellow Face' debuts, starring Christopher Gorham". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Purcell, Carey (October 22, 2013). "World Premiere of David Henry Hwang's Kung Fu to Feature "So You Think You Can Dance" Star Cole Horibe". Playbill.
- ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (March 28, 2014). "In the Beginning, the Words of Many". The New York Times. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Als, Hilton (February 2, 2014). "Exit the Dragon". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ "An Interview with David Henry Hwang on Writing for Showtime's "The Affair"". Columbia University. November 22, 2016. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Dale, Michael (April 22, 2016). "David Henry Hwang Recalls The Time He Wrote A Song With Prince". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Roddy, Stephen. "Delving Deeper into "Dream of the Red Chamber"" (PDF). San Francisco Opera. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ "Tony Award-Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang to Succeed William Ivey Long as New Chair of the American Theatre Wing" (PDF). American Theatre Wing. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Fung, Lisa (May 3, 2018). "'Soft Power' has a cast that's almost entirely Asian. Here's why that's a radical idea for American theater". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Meyer, Dan. "David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori’s Soft Power Opens October 15" Playbill, October 15, 2019
- ^ "David Henry Hwang". Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ "Oct. 24: AALDEF theater party for David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly". Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. September 29, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ISBN 0884300897.
- ^ "Winners of the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Awards". Pen America. April 29, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ Hetrick, Adam (August 1, 2011). "2012 William Inge Festival to Honor David Henry Hwang". Playbill.
- ^ "2015 Blue Cloud Gala". China Institute. Archived from the original on February 27, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Hetrick, Adam (October 3, 2018). "Suzan-Lori Parks Named 2018 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award Winner". Playbill.
- ^ "2015 Distinguished Artist Award Recipient David Henry Hwang". ISPA. Archived from the original on February 27, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ "Princeton University Public Lectures: David Henry Hwang". Princeton University. March 23, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ "David Henry Hwang". United States Artists. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ "The Art of Change: Meet our visiting fellows". Ford Foundation. April 7, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Lefkowitz, Andy (September 17, 2018). "Joe Mantello, Cicely Tyson, David Henry Hwang & More Named Theater Hall of Fame Inductees". Broadway Buzz. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ "DAVID HENRY HWANG INTERVIEW: It's OK to be Wrong and/or It's OK to be Hwang". US Asians. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ David Henry Hwang (January 5, 2016). "The Time I Got Stabbed in the Neck". The New York Times. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Mai, Andy; Smith, Greg B.; Dziemianowicz, Joe; Stepansky, Joseph (December 3, 2015). "'M. Butterfly' playwright David Henry Hwang slashed in neck near Brooklyn home". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
Further reading
- Boles, William (2013). Understanding David Henry Hwang. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia. OCLC 862367889.
- Chen, Barbara (2001). "A Conversation with David Henry Hwang". Yolk. No. 8.1, 'Kelly Hu'. Archived from the originalon February 7, 2005.
- Lee, Esther Kim (2015). The Theatre of David Henry Hwang. Bloomsbury. OCLC 935521841.
- Hassan, Mahmoud Fakhry Osman (2021). Ethnicity and Cultural Identity in Selected Plays by David Henry Hwang (MA thesis). Ain Shams University.
External links
- David Henry Hwang at IMDb
- David Henry Hwang at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- David Henry Hwang at Playscripts, Inc.