• David Henry Hwang is the leading Asian-American playwright • Broadway opening April 1998 • Has been developed at numerous theatres around the country • His first Broadway production since M. Butterfly • Produced originally at the Public Theatre in NYC>
Previous Publications Marisol Cloud Tectonics Each day Dies with Sleep • Will be showing at the Alliance Theatre Dec 20-Feb 20 Will also show in Berkeley Jan 15-Feb 7th
Acclaimed playwright David Henry Hwang’s hilarious comedy Chinglish has been described as “a sly, funny, multi-tiered joke with a laugh-out-loud surface that conceals a movingly somber aftertaste” (Village Voice) and “a triumph in any language” (New York Magazine).Springing from the author's personal experiences in China, Chinglish follows a Midwestern American businessman desperately seeking to score a lucrative contact for his family's firm as he travels to China, 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 the challenges of doing business in a country whose language—and underlying cultural assumptions—are worlds apart from our own. David Henry Hwang's «best new work since M. Butterfly, this shrewd, timely and razor-sharp comedy» (Chicago Tribune) received its Broadway premiere in fall 2011, and a film adaptation is currently in development.David Henry Hwang is the author of the Tony Award-winning M. Butterfly, Yellow Face (OBIE Award, 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalist), Golden Child (1997 OBIE Award), FOB (1981 OBIE Award), Family Devotions (Drama Desk nomination), and the books for musicals Aida ( co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 Broadway revival), and Tarzan, among other works. David Henry Hwang graduated from Stanford University, attended the Yale School of Drama, and holds honorary degrees from Columbia College in Chicago and The American Conservatory Theatre. He lives in New York City with his wife, actress Kathryn Layng, and their children, Noah David and Eva Veanne.
With the success of HBO's presentation of «Angels in America,» Kushner can do no wrong. New fans, having been exposed to the HBO's «Angels in America,» and loyal fans will want to see Kushner's latest work of art.
“A subversive, seriously funny new theater piece by the adventurous playwright Young Jean Lee. . . . Ms. Lee does not shy away from prodding the audience’s racial sensitivities—or insensitivities—in a style that is sometimes sly and subtle, sometimes as blunt as a poke in the eye.”—Charles Isherwood, The New York Times “Lee is a facetious provocateur; she does whatever she can to get under our skins—with laughs and with raw, brutal talk . . . [and with] so ingenious a twist, such a radical bit of theatrical smoke and mirrors, that we are forced to confront our own preconceived notions of race.”—Hilton Als, The New Yorker With The Shipment , her latest work taking on identity politics, Young Jean Lee “confirms herself as one of the best experimental playwrights in America” ( Time Out New York ). The Korean American theater artist has taken on cultural images of black America, in a play that begins with sketches of African American clichés—an angry, foul-mouthed comedian; an aspiring young rapper who ends up in prison—and ends with a seemingly naturalistic parlor comedy, which slyly reveals the larger game Lee is playing, leaving us to consider the many ways that we see the world through a racial lens. Young Jean Lee is a playwright, director, and artistic director of her own OBIE Award-winning theater company, which as been producing her plays since 2003. Her other works include Songs of Dragons Flying to Heaven , Church , The Appeal , and Pullman, WA , and they have been produced across the country and internationally.
•Successful Productions at the Center Theatre Group, LA, and the Public Theatre, NY. •Finalists for 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Drama •Published in American Theatre Magazine
* Rivera’s plays are produced throughout the U.S., most recently at the Public Theater in NY, South Coast Repertory in Los Angeles, and A Contemporary Theater in Seattle * His last collection, Marisol, was published in 1997 and has sold over 5,000 copies. *Events in Los Angeles
David Henry Hwang has the potential to become the first important dramatist of American public life since Arthur Miller, and maybe the best of them all. -Detroit NewsDavid Henry Hwang has created an extraordinary body of work over the last twenty years: the Tony Award-winning play, M. Butterfly; the OBIE Award-winning and 1998 Tony nominated Golden Child; the libretti to The Voyage (included here) and 1000 Airplanes on the Roof (both for composer Philip Glass); and the book to Aida, which he coauthored. He has received fellowships from the Rockefeller and Guggenheim foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and The Pew /TCG National Artists Residency Program.This eight-play collection includes:FOB: «fresh off the boat» explores the conflicts between old and new worldsThe Dance and the Railroad: a haunting play about the inhuman conditions of railroad workers in the 1860s American WestFamily Devotions: a biting work which probes the religious conflicts in a modern Chinese-American familyThe Sound of a Voice: a meditation on the traditional roles of man and woman set in feudal JapanThe House of Sleeping Beauties: a reworking of a novella by Yasunari KawabataThe Voyage: the libretto to the opera by Philip Glass, which examines Columbus's arrival in AmericaBondage: a one-act set in an S&M parlor, which examines racial stereotypes and sexual mythsTrying to Find Chinatown: a two-person play, in which two Asian-American men-one searching for his Asian heritage, the other trying to shake himself free-meet by chance in New York City"David Henry Hwang knows America-its vernacular, its social landscape, its theatrical traditions. He knows the same about China. In his plays, he manages to mix both of these conflicting cultures until he arrives at a style that is wholly his own. Hwang's works have the verve of the well-made American stage comedies and yet, with little warning, they bubble over into the mystical rituals of Asian stagecraft. By at once bringing West and East into conflict and unity, this playwright has found the perfect
“McCraney’s richly drawn characters and colloquial poetry . . . manages to sound both epic and rooted in a specific place. Listen closely, and you might hear that thrilling sound that is one of the main reasons we go to the theater, that beautiful music of a new voice.”— The New York Times “Taut, expressive drama, The Brothers Size realizes the potential of theater to elevate the ordinary. . . . McCraney’s writing can be arresting.”— Time Out New York This is the first collection by Tarell Alvin McCraney, a major new playwright of the American theater. Lyrical and mythic, provocative and contemporary, McCraney’s dramas of kinship, love, and heartache are set in the bayou of Louisiana and loosely draw on West African myths. In the Red and Brown Water charts the story of Oya, a fast and beautiful track star who must make difficult choices on her journey to womanhood. The Brothers Size dramatizes the struggle between brothers who have taken different paths: Ogun, single-mindedly running his auto shop, and Oshoosi, recently returned from prison and fallen back with trouble. Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet explores a young man’s relationship with his history and friends as he discovers his sexuality and true self against the backdrop of an impending storm. Tarell Alvin McCraney ’s other works include Wig Out! and The Breach . His plays have been produced at The Public Theater in New York, internationally at the Royal Court Theatre and Abbey Theatre, and throughout the United States.
“Lynn Nottage’s work explores depths of humanness, the overlapping complexities of race, gender, culture and history—and the startling simplicity of desire—with a clear tenderness, with humor, with compassion.” —Paula Vogel, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Intimate Apparel : “Thoughtful, affecting new play . . . with seamless elegance.”—Charles Isherwood, Variety Fabulation : “Robustly entertaining comedy . . . with punchy social insights and the firecracker snap of unexpected humor.”—Ben Brantley, The New York Times With her two latest plays, “exceptionally gifted playwright” ( New York Observer ) Lynn Nottage has created companion pieces that span 100 years in the lives of African American women. Intimate Apparel is about the empowerment of Esther, a proud and shy seamstress in 1905 New York who creates exquisite lingerie for both Fifth Avenue boudoirs and Tenderloin bordellos. In Fabulation Nottage re-imagines Esther as Undine, the PR-diva of today, who spirals down from her swanky Manhattan office to her roots back in Brooklyn. Through opposite journeys, Esther and Undine achieve the same satisfying end, one of self-discovery. Lynn Nottage ’s plays include Crumbs from the Table of Joy ; Mud, River, Stone ; Por’ Knockers ; Las Menias ; Fabulation and Intimate Apparel , for which she was awarded the Francesca Primus Prize and the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award in 2004. Her plays have been produced at theatres throughout the country, with Intimate Apparel slated for 16 productions during the 2005–2006 season.