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"It's about our country, about public image, about "face,"" says David Henry Hwang about his latest work, a mock documentary that puts Hwang himself center stage as it explores both Asian identity as well as race in America. The play begins with the 1990s controversy over color-blind casting for "Miss Saigon," before it spins into a comic fantasy, in which the character DHH pens a play in protest and then unwittingly casts a white actor as the Asian lead. "Yellow Face" also explores the real-life investigation of Hwang's father, the first Asian American to own a federally chartered bank, and the espionage charges against physicist Wen Ho Lee.

Yellow Face

"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.<br />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.<br /><br />Winner of an Obie and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman, Yellow Face is as timely as ever, wrestling with issues of cultural appropriation, complicity, and artistic freedom. It’s brought to life in this audio-only revival by a stunning all-star cast (many playing themselves) led by Daniel Dae Kim.

David Henry Hwang confronts cultural identity and appropriation after casting a white actor in an Asian role.

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