Yellow Face (play)
| Yellow Face | |
|---|---|
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| Written by | David Henry Hwang |
| Characters | DHH Marcus G. Dahlman HYH Leah Anne Cho Stuart Ostrow Rocco Palmieri Jane Krakowski Miles Newman The Announcer Name Withheld on Advice of Counsel (NWOAOC) and others |
| Date premiered | May 2007 |
| Place premiered | Mark Taper Forum |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Culture, race |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | 1990 to the present. New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston, San Francisco, Guizhou Province |
Yellow Face is a semi-autobiographical play by David Henry Hwang, featuring the author himself as the protagonist, DHH, mounting his 1993 play Face Value. The play's themes include questions of race and of the interaction between media and politics.[1]
Production history
Yellow Face premiered in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum in association with East West Players in May 2007.[2]
The play opened
In 2013, the play was produced as a two-part YouTube video directed and adapted by Jeff Liu, starring Ryun Yu as DHH, Sab Shimono as HYH, and Christopher Gorham as Marcus G. Dahlman, with the rest of the cast played by Ki Hong Lee, Emily Kuroda, Linda Park, Justin James Hughes, Michael Krawic, and Tracy Winters.
In 2013, Yellow Face made its UK premiere at
In 2021, Yellow Face premiered in Australia at the Kings Cross Theatre, Sydney, opening on 23 April and closing on 8 May after a sold-out run.[6][7] The production was directed by Tasnim Hossain and produced by Janine Lau and Jasper Lee-Lindsay, with Shan-Ree Tan as DHH, Adam Marks as Marcus G. Dahlman, Jonathan Chan as HYH/Wen Ho Lee/others, and Kian Pitman as the Announcer/Name Withheld, together with Helen Kim, Whitney Richards and Idam Sondhi, and featuring production and costume design by Ruru Zhu, lighting design by Lucia Haddad, and music and sound design by Prema Yin.[6] The production was nominated for six Sydney Theatre Awards in 2021, winning for Best Direction (Independent Production) and Best Performance in a Leading Role (Independent Production).[8][9]
In June/July 2022, the play was produced by Theatre Raleigh and directed by Telly Leung. The production featured Hansel Tan as DHH, Alan Ariano as Henry Y Hwang, and Pascal Pastrana as Marcus G. Dahlman. The production also featured Lighting Design by Charlie Raschke and Scenic design by Mayuki Su. [10]
The play is currently published by Theatre Communications Group and in an acting edition by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
The fictionalized DHH also appears in Hwang's musical Soft Power.[11]
The play will have its Broadway premiere in September 2024 through Roundabout Theatre Company. Silverman will again direct, with Daniel Dae Kim portraying DHH.[12] Kim will also portray DHH in an audio adaptation of the play for Audible, also directed by Silverman. The audio adaptation will include Jason Biggs as Marcus G. Dahlman, Ashley Park, Wendell Pierce, Benedict Wong, Noah Bean, Dick Cavett, Margaret Cho, Ronan Farrow, Fritz Friedman, Joel de la Fuente, Margaret Fung, Gish Jen, and Francis Jue. Cavett, Cho, Friedman, Fung, and Jen will portray themselves.[13]
Background
In an interview, Hwang explained: "It’s a memoir – a kind of unreliable memoir. The main character is named after me and based on me. There are some things in it that are true and there are some things in it that aren’t true. ... The story of 'Yellow Face' dates back to the 'Miss Saigon' controversy in 1990. That was when I was involved in the big casting controversy... I just naturally tend to write humorously, and for me, it’s not an issue of trying to write lines that are funny. I don’t think that works. It’s having a situation that’s inherently comic and then trying to be truthful to the character in that situation."[14]
Plot summary
Yellow Face opens with DHH receiving an E-mail from Marcus G. Dahlman in 2006 about his recent travels in China. DHH reflects on how Marcus disappeared from the public eye. He begins in 1990 with the
DHH then writes the play Face Value, based partly on the Miss Saigon controversy, and casts Marcus G. Dahlman as one of the lead Asian roles in his play. DHH is at first convinced that Marcus is part Asian but eventually realizes he is fully white. DHH fears he will appear hypocritical for the casting after his protest of yellow face, but is unable to fire Marcus on the basis of his race. DHH has him adopt the name "Marcus Gee" and tells the public that Marcus has Eurasian ancestry as a Jew with Siberian ancestry. Though their deception is successful, Face Value receives negative reviews and closes in previews, losing $2 million. DHH tries to move on, but he later discovers that Marcus has continued playing his role as an Asian in all parts of his life, acting in Asian roles and becoming an activist for Asian American rights. This angers DHH, who views him as an "ethnic tourist".
The play further explores DHH's relationship to his father, HYH, and the relationship of the Chinese American community to America. HYH is a successful immigrant who built the Far East National Bank in California. After contributing monetarily to political campaigns, he and others affiliated with the bank, including Wen Ho Lee, get investigated by Senator Fred Thompson, who believes they are funneling money from China to influence American politics. In the course of this, DHH and Marcus get implicated as Chinese collaborators. DHH beseeches Marcus to reveal his true identity as white, deciding he cares more about defending the Chinese American community than hiding his mistakes. Marcus ends his deception, and Thompson's investigation breaks down.
DHH's father dies in 2005, having lost faith in the American Dream. DHH and Marcus converse after their E-mails, before DHH admits to the audience that Marcus is an entirely fictional character he created to explore messy questions about race and nationality. At the character’s request, DHH writes Marcus a "happy ending" in which he moves to a small village in China and is eventually accepted into the community there.
Casts
| Character(s)[15][16] | Los Angeles (2007)[2] | New York City (2007)[3] | London (2013)[1][5] | Hong Kong (2016)[17] | Sydney (2021)[6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DHH | Hoon Lee | Kevin Shen | Simon Lo (魯文傑) | Shan-Ree Tan | |
| Marcus G. Dahlman | Peter Scanavino | Noah Bean | Ben Starr | Micah Sandt (孫麥凱) | Adam Marks |
| The Announcer/Name Withheld on Advice of Counsel | Anthony Torn | Christy Meyer | 宋本浩 | Kian Pitman | |
| Stuart Ostrow/Rocco Palmieri/others | Lucas Caleb Rooney | John Schwab | 張滿源 | Idam Sondhi | |
| Leah Anne Cho/others | Julienne Hanzelka Kim | Gemma Chan | 謝冰盈 | Helen Kim | |
| Jane Krakowski/Miles Newman/others | Kathryn Layng | Davina Perera | 鄭雅芝 | Whitney Richards | |
| HYH/others | Tzi Ma | Francis Jue | David Yip | 楊吉璽 | Jonathan Chan |
See also
- Portrayal of East Asians in Hollywood
References
- ^ a b c "Yellow Face". ParkTheatre.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ a b Verini, Bob (21 May 2007). "Review: 'Yellow Face'". Variety.com. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ a b Denton, Martin (9 December 2007). "Yellow Face". NYTheatre.com. Archived from the original on November 27, 2015. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
- ^ a b "'Yellow Face' 2007". lortel.org. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
- ^ a b "Yellow Face". NationalTheatre.org.uk. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
- ^ a b c "Yellow Face". kingsxtheatre.com. Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
- ^ Tongue, Cassie (29 April 2021). "Deliciously complex: Don't miss this thoughtful study of racism". SMH.com.au. Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ "Sydney Theatre Award winners announced". aussietheatre.com. 31 January 2022. Archived from the original on 1 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ "2021 - Nominees and Winners". sydneytheatreawards.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ Brady, Lauren (21 June 2022). "Yellow Face Playbill at Theatre Raleigh" (PDF).
- ^ Fung, Lisa (3 May 2018). "A big bet on 'Soft Power': How David Henry Hwang's latest play takes on China, Trump and more". The LA Times. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ Leftkowitz, Andy (9 January 2024). "Roundabout's 2024-2025 season to include 'Yellow Face,' 'English' and 'Pirates of Penzance'". Broadway News. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ Yellow Face. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ Winyan Soo Hoo (February 22, 2014). "Bearing the 'Yellow Face': Q&A with David Henry Hwang". Washington Post.
- ^ Yellow Face programme. London: Park Theatre. 2013.
- ^ Yellow Face programme. London: National Theatre. 2014.
- ^ "Pants Theatre Production". Retrieved 26 January 2016.
