TCG releases Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang
— Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is pleased to announce the publication of David Henry Hwang’s latest play Yellow Face, which received a 2008 OBIE Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In his mock-documentary play, Hwang puts himself center stage, as it explores both Asian identity and race in America. The play begins with the 1990s controversy over color-blind casting for Miss Saigon, and then spins into comic fantasy, in which the character DHH pens a play in protest, and unwittingly casts a white actor as the Asian lead.
“Charming, touching and funny…Yellow Face has an Ibsenite reach and stature.”
–Michael Feingold, Village Voice
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.
In describing the cunningly organizing, multi-faceted work, Hwang says, “It’s about our country, about public image, about face.”
“Yellow Face brings to the national discussion about race a sense of humor, an even-handed treatment and a hopeful, healing vision.” –Bob Verini, Variety
The book also includes a foreword by New York Times columnist Frank Rich, who writes: “Though inevitably labeled an Asian American writer, Hwang has actually been among the quintessential American playwrights, period, of his time. In his work, ethnic, racial and sexual identities are fluid, and the cultures that stir within the American melting pot alternately do battle and cross-pollinate.”
“Yellow Face is a particularly remarkable achievement, a Pirandellian comedy built around a trio of sour real-life events,” Rich continues, “All the more powerful for grasping the absurdity of these events and refracting them through this writer’s piquant comic vision.”
David Henry Hwang is the author of the Tony Award-winning M. Butterfly and Golden Child, FOB, Family Devotions and the books for the musicals Aida (co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival), and Tarzan, among other works.
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Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is the national organization for the American theatre. TCG is dedicated to nurturing professional, not-for-profit American theatre institutions, artists, and audiences, and to fulfilling its mission to strengthen, nurture and promote professional,
not-for-profit field.
TCG initiatives include a variety of artistic, management, international and advocacy programs. TCG’s many publications offer a national resource for reference, opinion, and debate on theatre and the performing arts today. TCG publishes American Theatre magazine, ARTSEARCH, and books on theatre and performing arts. Please visit our website and online bookstore at www.tcg.org.
Yellow Face
by David Henry Hwang
Paperback 88pp
$13.95 978-1-55936-340-2
November 2009
Also available from TCG Books:
Flower Drum Song
Book by David Henry Hwang
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
$12.95 978-1-55936-222-1
Golden Child
by David Henry Hwang
$13.95 978-1-55936-158-3
Trying to Find Chinatown: Selected Plays
by David Henry Hwang
$16.95 978-1-55936-172-9
TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution. Orders: 800-283-3572. SAN number: 63170X. Individuals may call 212-609-5900 or visit our online bookstore at www.tcg.org. For postage and handling, please add $5.00 for the first book and $.50 for each additional copy.
