PLAYS

Kung Fu /  by David Hwang

KUNG FU

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Kung Fu is a depiction of international martial arts star Bruce Lee, and his journey from troubled youth to martial arts legend.  Kung Fu follows Lee as he struggles to prove himself as a fighter, a husband, a father, and a man. The play blends dance, Chinese opera, martial arts and drama into a bold theatrical experience.

Kung Fu premiered at Signature Theatre in 2014, directed by Leigh Silverman.

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Production photos for from the Signature Theater production. Photos by Joan Marcus.

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Chinglish /  by David Hwang

James Waterston. Photo by Eric Y. Exit for the Goodman Theatre, 2011

James Waterston. Photo by Eric Y. Exit for the Goodman Theatre, 2011

Chinglish follows a white American businessman who travels to China, desperate to score a lucrative contact for his family's firm, only to discover how much he doesn't understand. Named for the unique and often comical third language that evolves from attempts to translate Chinese signs into English, Chinglish explores an evolving U.S. – China relationship where neither side is exactly what it pretends to be.

Chinglish premiered in 2011 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, directed by Leigh Silverman, where it won a Jefferson Award for Best New Work. Opening on Broadway later that year, it received a 2012 Drama Desk Nomination for Best Play.

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Production photos from the Goodman Theatre production. Photos by Eric Y. Exit.

Yellow Face /  by David Hwang

Yellow Face at the Public Theatre. Photo by Michal Daniel

Yellow Face at the Public Theatre. Photo by Michal Daniel

Inspired by the 1990s Broadway controversy over the “yellow face” casting of Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce as a Eurasian pimp in the musical Miss Saigon, Yellow Face spins a comic fantasy in which Asian American playwright DHH pens a play in protest, then unwittingly casts a white actor as the Asian lead in his own play.

Yellow Face premiered at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 2007, directed by Leigh Silverman, then moved to the Public Theater. It won a 2008 Obie Award for Playwriting and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. It premiered in London at the Park Theatre in 2013, in a production directed by Alex Sims, which transferred to the National Theatre in 2014.

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Production photos of Yellow Face at the Public Theatre in 2007. Photos by Michal Daniel

Production photos from Yellow Face at the Silk Road Rising. Photos by Michael Brosilow

Golden Child /  by David Hwang

Jennifer Lim, Annie Q, Julyana Soelistyo, and Leslie Hu. Photo by Richard Termin, Signature Theater Production, 2012

Jennifer Lim, Annie Q, Julyana Soelistyo, and Leslie Hu. Photo by Richard Termin, Signature Theater Production, 2012

Drawn from stories told to Hwang as a child by his grandmother about their family history, Golden Child tells of a wealthy and polygamous Chinese merchant in 1918, who embraces the new religion of Christianity. In so doing, he sets off a power struggle between his three wives, and forever changes the lives of his succeeding generations.

Golden Child premiered at the Public Theater in 1996, directed by James Lapine, and won a 1997 Obie Award for Playwriting, then moved in 1998 to Broadway, where it received a Tony Nomination for Best Play. It was revived at Signature Theatre in 2012, directed by Leigh Silverman.

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Production photos from the Golden Child at Signature Theatre in 2012. Photos by Richard Termin

Photos by Michal Daniels, from The Public Theater production in 1996.

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Bondage /  by David Hwang

Allyson Harkey and Jacob Yeh in Bondage. Photo by Lucas Zuniga, courtesy`-Washington Post.

Allyson Harkey and Jacob Yeh in Bondage. Photo by Lucas Zuniga, courtesy`-Washington Post.

Set in a sadomasochism parlor in Los Angeles, Bondage probes the construction of racial stereotypes through the relationship between a dominatrix and her longtime willing submissive, both clad head to toe in black leather to conceal their identities. As the two role-play their way through a series of racially-charged sexual games, they gradually realize that the old roles no longer satisfy them as before.

Bondage premiered at Actors Theatre of Louisville in 1992, directed by Oskar Eustis.

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M. Butterfly /  by David Hwang

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M. Butterfly is inspired by a true story of a French diplomat who carried on a twenty year affair with a Chinese opera singer and spy, without realizing the true gender of his lover.

M. Butterfly is one of the most celebrated American plays, and the first by an Asian-American to open on Broadway. Premiering in 1988 in a production directed by John Dexter, it won numerous awards, including the Tony Award for Best Play, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Broadway play, and the John Gassner Award for the season’s outstanding new playwright. It was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

M. Butterfly ran for two years on Broadway, a year on London’s West End, and has been produced in over three dozen countries. It will be revived in Fall 2017 on Broadway, in a new production directed by Julie Taymor.

M. Butterfly heading back to Broadway the fall of 2017! Find out more about the revival, directed by Julie Taymor, starring Clive Owen.

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David Henry Hwang, Clive Owen and Julie Taymor introduce M. Butterfly.

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Rich Relations /  by David Hwang

Johann Carlo. Rich Relations at Second Stage, 1986. Photo by Stephanie Saia

Johann Carlo. Rich Relations at Second Stage, 1986. Photo by Stephanie Saia

Keith is a prep school debate teacher on the run with Jill, his student and underage girlfriend. They arrive at the Los Angeles mansion of his father Hinson, an amusingly hopeless technophile who left the ministry to become a wealthy real estate baron. Full of wit, magic, and ruined household appliances, Rich Relations explores the ties between wealth and love, modernity and eternity, sacrifice and resurrection.

Rich Relations premiered at Second Stage in 1986, directed by Harry Kondoleon.

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Joe Silver. Rich Relations at Second Stage, 1986. Photo by Stephanie Saia

Joe Silver. Rich Relations at Second Stage, 1986. Photo by Stephanie Saia

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The House of Sleeping Beauties /  by David Hwang

Natsuko Ohama, Ching Valdes-Aran, John Lone, Elizabeth Sung, Victor Wong, and DHH. Photo by Martha Swope.

Natsuko Ohama, Ching Valdes-Aran, John Lone, Elizabeth Sung, Victor Wong, and DHH. Photo by Martha Swope.

The House of Sleeping Beauties is an adaptation of the novella by Nobel Prize winning author Yasunari Kawabata. An elderly man visits a unique brothel filled with sleeping young women. The customers are permitted only to sleep, but not have sex, with the girls, as they fantasize about what it was like to be young.

The House of Sleeping Beauties premiered at the Public Theater in 1983, directed by John Lone with Lenore Kletter.

 

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The Sound of a Voice /  by David Hwang

Masanari Kawahara and Maria Chen in Mu Performing Arts, 1996

Masanari Kawahara and Maria Chen in Mu Performing Arts, 1996

Inspired by Japanese ghost stories, The Sound of a Voice tells of a lone samurai warrior who goes into the woods to kill a woman rumored to be a witch, but ends up falling in love with her instead.

The Sound of a Voice premiered at the Public Theater in 1983, directed by John Lone with Lenore Kletter.

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Family Devotions /  by David Hwang

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Family Devotions depicts a clash of West and East among three generations of an Americanized Chinese family in a Los Angeles suburb. Ama and Popo, two elderly and devoutly Christian Chinese sisters, live with their Americanized children in Bel Air. Their grandchildren Jenny and Chester seek to escape superficial world of their parents. The whole family eagerly awaits a visit from Di-Gou, the brother whom the sisters have not seen in over thirty years. When he arrives, it is clear he is not the man his sisters remember.

Family Devotions premiered at the Public Theater in 1981, directed by Robert Alan Ackerman. It received a 1982 Drama Desk Nomination for Best New Play.

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The Dance and the Railroad /  by David Hwang

William Yuekun Wu and Ruy Iskandar. Photo by Joan Marcus for Signature Theatre, 2013

William Yuekun Wu and Ruy Iskandar. Photo by Joan Marcus for Signature Theatre, 2013

Set against the backdrop of the Chinese American railroad workers’ strike of 1867, The Dance and the Railroad rejects the stereotype of submissive immigrant laborers, and depicts assertive men who demanded their rights despite great personal risk. The play compares the optimistic and idealistic Ma to the pragmatic and independent Lone, and juxtaposes the hard labor of working on the railroad with the dream to practice traditional Chinese Opera.

The Dance and the Railroad premiered at the New Federal Theatre in 1981, directed by John Lone, before moving to the Public Theater, and received a 1982 Drama Desk Nomination for Best New Play. It was revived at Signature Theatre in 2013, directed by May Adrales, in a production which received its Chinese premiere at the Wuzhen Festival later that year.


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Photos from the 2013 revival at Signature Theatre. Photos by Joan Marcus.

FOB /  by David Hwang

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Moving between myth and reality, FOB ("Fresh off the boat") explores assimilation, immigration, and the struggle of Asian American identity. Grace and Dale are cousins, living in the Los Angeles area and attending college. Dale, an “ABC” or “American Born Chinese,” just wants to fit in to white American culture. Grace, who was born in Taiwan, feels less ambivalent about her Chinese heritage. The arrival of Steve, an exchange student and “fresh off the boat” newcomer from Hong Kong, forces them to confront conflicting feelings about America, China and themselves.

FOB premiered at Junipero (now Okada) Dormitory at Stanford University in 1979, directed by the author. It opened professionally at the Public Theater in 1980, directed by Mako, and won the 1981 Obie Award for Best New American Play.

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