The lines between truth and fiction blur with hilarious and moving results in David Henry Hwang’s unreliable memoir. Asian-American playwright DHH, fresh off his Tony Award win for M. Butterfly, leads a protest against the casting of Jonathan Pryce as the Eurasian pimp in the original Broadway production of Miss Saigon, condemning the practice as “yellowface.” His position soon comes back to haunt him when he mistakes a Caucasian actor, Marcus G. Dahlman, for mixed-race, and casts him in the lead Asian role of his own Broadway-bound comedy, Face Value. When DHH discovers the truth of Marcus’ ethnicity, he tries to conceal his blunder to protect his reputation as an Asian-American role model, by passing the actor off as a “Siberian Jew.” Meanwhile, DHH’s father, Henry Y. Hwang, an immigrant who loves the American Dream and Frank Sinatra, finds himself ensnared in the same web of late-1990's anti-Chinese paranoia that also leads to the “Donorgate” scandal and the arrest of Los Alamos nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. As he clings to his old multicultural rhetoric, this new racist witch hunt forces DHH to confront the complex and ever-changing role that “face” plays in American life today
Videos
Vonya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Theatre Raleigh (7/17 - 7/28) | ||
Paint Me This House Of Love
Burning Coal Theatre Company (1/30 - 2/16) | ||
The Prom
PlayMakers Repertory Company (7/17 - 7/28) | ||
TR In Concert: Anne Scaramuzzo – Mother Knows Best
Theatre Raleigh (6/29 - 6/29) | ||
Wait Til You See This! Second Stage Series
Burning Coal Theatre Company (6/5 - 6/23) | ||
Merrily We Roll Along
Burning Coal Theatre Company (4/10 - 4/27) | ||
A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical
DPAC (1/7 - 1/12) | ||
Merrily We Roll Along
Burning Coal Theatre Company (4/10 - 4/27) | ||
VIEW SHOWS ADD A SHOW |
Recommended For You