The Hwang Success

For years, David Henry Hwang has been known for his sublime works as a playwright, screenwriter, and librettist, which have earned numerous awards such as the Tony, Drama Desk, John Gassner, OBIE, and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and also several nominees for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His most successful work is by writing the book M. Butterfly that had ran successfully in Broadway, London's West End, and in over three countries. (American Theatre Wing)

David Henry Hwang was born in Los Angeles, California to a banker father and a piano teacher mother. He received his bachelor's degree in English from Stanford University and continued his study at Yale School of Drama. There, inside his dormitory, his first play was produced. (Wikipedia)

Hwang's early plays were well-known on his concern with Asian immigrants or the Asian Americans in the modern society of United States. His first play, The award winning, FOB, tells about the conflicts and contrasts between the Asian Americans and newcomers that are trying to assimilate. The play was premiered at the John Papp Public Theater, where his two other plays, The Dance and The Railroad and Family Devotions, were performed. Since three of his early works were related to the Chinese Americans, Hwang himself named the three of them as a "Trilogy of Chinese America" (Wikipedia).

Through his developed ability in producing and writing plays, Hwang finally worked his best to produce , M. Butterfly. The play is actually a deconstruction of Giacomo Puccini's production of Madama Butterfly, which tells about the news report of the relationship between a French diplomat, Bernard Boursicot, and Shi Pei Pu, a Chinese opera singer man who acted towards Boursicot as if he was a woman throughout the 20 years of their relationship. In 1988, the play was premiered on Broadway, and because of the countless positive reviews it received, Hwang received a Tony Award for Best Play, being the first Asian American to receive the award. Later on, in 1993, he was asked to direct his own screenplays for M. Butterfly, which was produced under the production of Warner Brothers, which starred Jeremy Irons and John Lone, and directed by David Cronenberg. (Wikipedia)

M. Butterfly

After his marvelous success with M. Butterfly, Hwang began to continue his work for opera, film, music theatre, and acts a frequent librettist with the world best composer, Philip Glass. However, in 1993, Hwang wrote a play called Face Value, which was recognized as his failed Broadway play and soon afterwards closed permanently. Hwang and the producer, Stuart Ostrow, lost millions of dollars and it ruined their careers. But, Hwang didn't stop just yet to produce more incredible plays. He even used Face Value as an inspiration for his 2007 play, Yellow Face, which tells about a controversy about the casting of Jonathan Pryce of his role in Broadway musical, Miss Saigon. (Wikipedia)

Yellow Face

Yellow Face was premiered in Los Angeles, California at the Mark Taper Forum and then moved to Joseph Papp Public Theater, which was important to Hwang's early works. In 1993, Hwang might not realize that his failure can bring him home an OBIE Award in Playwright, as a third-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and made him even more well-known. Even until now, Hwang has continued to work steadily in the world of opera and musical theatre, and produced countless works that have influenced the world of entertainment. (Wikipedia)

Fun Fact:
- To Alice: Hwang even co-wrote the English language libretto for you in an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland with music by a Korean composer, Unsuk Chin, which received its world premiere at the Bavarian State Opera in 2007. Alice, you should be proud to have the opportunity to work with an amazing and influential man!

The Red Queen in Hwang's Production of Alice in Wonderland

Note: By "countless", I'm not joking about his past and current works in plays, music theatre, film, television, and others.

Plays:
- FOB
- The Dance and the Railroad
- Family Devotions
- The House of Sleeping Beauties (based on Yasunari Kawabata's novella House of the Sleeping Beauties)
- The Sound of a Voice
- As the Crow Flies
- Rich Relations
- M. Butterfly
- Bondage
- Face Value
- Trying to Find Chinatown
- Bang Kok
- Golden Child
- Peer Gynt (based on the play by Henrik Ibsen, co-written with Stephan Muller)
- Merchandising (Humana Festival T[ext] Shirt play)
- Jade Flowerpots and Bound Feet
- Tibet Through the Red Box (based on Peter Sis' book)
- The Great Helmsman
- Yellow Face
- A Very DNA Reunion
- Chinglish

Music Theatre:
- 1000 Airplanes on the Roof (chamber opera; music by Philip Glass)
- The Voyage (opera; music by Philip Glass, libretto [in English, Latin, and Spanish] based on Glass' story)
- The Silver River (chamber opera; music by Bright Sheng)
- Aida (musical; music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice; book co-written by Linda Woolverton and Robert Falls, based on the opera by Giuseppe Verdi)
- Flower Drum Song (musical; music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, II, based upon the novel by C. Y. Lee and musical co-written by Joseph Fields)
- The Sound of a Voice (opera; music by Philip Glass, based on Hwang's plays)
- Ainadamar (opera; music by Osvaldo Golijov, libretto in Spanish)
- Tarzan (musical; music and lyrics by Phil Collins, based on the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Walt Disney Pictures film)
- Alice in Wonderland (opera; music by Unsuk Chin, libretto co-written by Chin, based on the books by Lewis Carroll)
- The Fly (opera; music by Howard Shore, based on the film by David Cronenberg)

Film Television
- The Dance and the Railroad (Source of Adaptation only)
- Blind Alleys (with Frederic Kimball)
- Forbidden City, U. S. A. (Assistant only)
- Forbidden Nights (story, with Tristine Rainer, based on Judith Shapiro's article "The Rocky Course of Love in China")
- M. Butterfly (based on Hwang's play)
- Golden Gate
- Picture Bride (Script Advisor only)
- The Monkey King (more commonly known as The Lost Empire)
- Possession (with Laura Jones and Neil LaBute, based on the novel by A. S. Byatt)
- Sound of a Voice (Source of Adaptation only)
- White Frog (Executive Producer and Actor only)

Other
- Yellow Punk Dolls (live dance; choreography by Ruby Shang, music by John Zorn)
- Dances in Exile (dance film; choreography by Ruby Shang, film by Howard Silver, music by David Torn, for Alive from Off Center)
- Come (song "Solo;" co-written with Prince)
- After Eros (live dance; choreography by Maureen Fleming, music by Philip Glass)
- Icarus at the Edge of Time (multi-media presentation; music by Philip Glass, film by Al+Al, co-written with Brian Greene, based on Green's novel)
- Yellow Face (YouTube video; Source of Adaptation only)

More on David Henry Hwang's biography explained by the man himself:

Exclusive Interview with Chinese American Playwright David Henry Hwang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Kc7ykLC7w