Yellow Face (Tcg Edition) - by David Henry Hwang (Paperback)

About the Book

A new satire of multiculturalism, by one of America's leading playwrights.

Book Synopsis

"A thesis of a play, unafraid of complexities and contradictions, pepped up with a light dramatic fizz. It asks whether race is skin-deep, actable or even fakeable, and it does so with huge wit and brio." -TimeOut London

"A pungent play of ideas with a big heart. Yellow Face brings to the national discussion about race a sense of humor a mile wide, an even-handed treatment and a hopeful, healing vision of a world that could be" -Variety

"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. An exploration of Asian identity and the ever-changing definition of what it is to be an American, Yellow Face "is by turns acidly funny, insightful and provocative" (Washington Post).

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. Adroitly combining the light touch of comedy with weighty political and emotional issues, Hwang creates a "lively and provocative cultural self-portrait [that] lets nobody off the hook" (The New York Times).

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.

Review Quotes

"Charming, touching and funny...Yellow Face has an Ibsenite reach and stature." -Michael Feingold, Village Voice

"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 event...all the more powerful for grasping the absurdity of these events and refracting them through this writer's piquant comic vision." -Frank Rich, foreword to Yellow Face

"Yellow Face never once descends into the valley of self-indulgence. Hwang's dialogue shows perspective that's global rather than solipsistic...Yellow Face isn't just a technically well-made play; it's also wholly entertaining." -Catey Sullivan, Chicago Theatre Beat


"Charming, touching and funny...Yellow Face has an Ibsenite reach and stature." -Michael Feingold, Village Voice

"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 event...all the more powerful for grasping the absurdity of these events and refracting them through this writer's piquant comic vision." -Frank Rich, foreword to Yellow Face

"Yellow Face never once descends into the valley of self-indulgence. Hwang's dialogue shows perspective that's global rather than solipsistic...Yellow Face isn't just a technically well-made play; it's also wholly entertaining." -Catey Sullivan, Chicago Theatre Beat

About the Author

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.