Yellow Face: A Semi-autobiographical Comedy - David Henry Hwang

Written by David Henry Hwang
Read by Daniel Dae Kim
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Dramatization

“It’s a…kind of unreliable memoir.” That’s how David Henry Hwang all-too-accurately labeled his bracing and hilarious 2007 play Yellow Face, which recounted a pivotal moment in his cultural awareness. The story, which mixes fact with fiction, starts in 1990, when Hwang—the first Asian American playwright to win a Tony—is among the highest profile artists to protest the casting of Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce in an Asian role in the musical Miss Saigon. But when Hwang begins work on a new play based on the controversy (or does he?), he inadvertently hires a white actor for a key Asian role. To protect his reputation as an Asian-American role model, Hwang invents a fake background for his star.

The resulting debacle spreads much further than he could foresee, and forces him to re-evaluate just how much of a champion for his culture he truly is. Hwang pulls no punches, naming names, and not letting himself off the hook.