David Henry Hwang

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David Henry Hwang

David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957 in Los Angeles , California ) is an American writer . He is considered the most important Asian-American playwright in the country.

Life and work

David Henry Hwang, son of a banker and a piano professor, studied at Stanford University (until 1979) and Yale University (1980, 1981). He began to write plays in Stanford, where his fellow students Sam Shepard and Maria Irene Fornes were.

Much of Hwang's work addresses the role of Chinese and other Asian Americans in modern American life. His debut, the Obie Award -winning piece “FOB”, is about the contradictions and conflicts between long-established Chinese Americans and new immigrants. The play was made at the O'Neill Playwrights Center ( New London (Connecticut) ) and premiered in 1981 at Joseph Papp's Public Theater in New York City . Papp then produced four more pieces by Hwang, including "The Dance and the Railroad", the story of a former star of Chinese opera who had to earn his living as a pen at the end of the 19th century. "Family Devotions" is a dark comedy about the impact of Western religion on the life of a Chinese family. "Sound and Beauty" is the overall title of two one-act plays based in Japan .

In Hwang's next play - "Rich Relations" - non-Asian characters were the focus for the first time. The play premiered at the Second Stage Theater in New York and served Hwang - although it was unsuccessful - as a preparation for his most famous work, “M. Butterfly". "M. Butterfly ”(1990), an intelligent dismantling of Puccini's opera“ Madama Butterfly ”, is loosely based on news reports about the relationships of a French diplomat, Bernard Boursicot, and Shi Pei Pu, a Chinese opera singer, who allegedly spent twenty years with his lover Boursicot has deceived about his gender. The play premiered on Broadway in 1988 and earned Hwang a Tony Award , the Drama Desk Award, the John Gassner Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award in addition to a Pulitzer Prize nomination . The material became known to an even wider audience in 1993 in the film adaptation of David Cronenberg (with Jeremy Irons and John Lone ). Hwang also worked with Prince in 1993 and wrote the lyrics to his song Solo , which he released on his album Come in 1994.

The success of “M. Butterfly “encouraged Hwang to develop his interests in many directions, and he began working for opera , television and musicals , among others . He continued to write for the stage through the 1990s, including minor works for the famous Actors Theater of Louisville and his second Broadway play, "Golden Child," which won the 1997 Obie Award and was nominated for a Tony Award.

In the 21st century, Hwang continued his work in all areas of stage writing and brought his third Broadway hit to the stage: a radical rewrite of Richard Rodgers ', Oscar Hammerstein and Joseph Field's musical "Flower Drum Song". Based on the novel of the same name by CY Lee , the work tells the story of the adjustment conflict of a Chinese family living in San Francisco .

David Henry Hwang married the artist Ophelia YM Chong in 1985. After the divorce, he married actress Kathryn Layng, with whom he has two children, Noah David and Eva Veanne. Hwang lives with his family in New York City.

Awards

David Henry Hwang has received numerous awards and grants, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts , the Guggenheim Foundation , the Rockefeller Foundation , the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Pew Charitable Trust . The institutions that have awarded him an award include the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund , the Association for Asian Pacific American Artists , the Museum of Chinese in the Americas , the East West Players , the Organization of Chinese Americans , the Media Action Network for Asian Americans , the Center for Migration Studies , the Asian American Resource Workshop , the China Institute, and the New York Foundation for the Arts .

In 1994, Hwang was appointed to the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities by President Bill Clinton . In 1998 the oldest Asian-American theater, the "East West Players", gave their new main stage the name "David Henry Hwang Theater".

Works by David Henry Hwang (selection)

  • 1980: FOB - Fresh off the Boat (Actor)
  • 1981: The Dance and the Railroad (acting)
  • 1981: Family Devotions (acting)
  • 1983: Sound and Beauty (two one-act plays)
  • 1986: Rich Relations (Acting)
  • 1990: M. Butterfly (acting)
  • 1993: Face Value (acting with music)
  • 1998: Golden Child (acting)
  • 2000: Aida (musical, music: Elton John )
  • 2002: Flower Drum Song (Musical, Music: Richard Rodgers )
  • 2006: Tarzan (musical, music: Phil Collins )
  • 2006: Yellow Face (acting; in preparation)

Scripts

Web links

Commons : David Henry Hwang  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Hwang, David Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American playwright
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California, United States