ABSTRACT
This chapter features an interview with David Henry Hwang, a playwright, screenwriter, television writer, and librettist, whose stage works includes the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the books for the Broadway musicals Aida (coauthor), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival), and Disney’s Tarzan. Hwang is America’s most-produced living opera librettist, whose works have been honored with two Grammy Awards, and he cowrote the Gold Record “Solo” with the late pop star Prince. Since 2015, Hwang has been a writer and consulting producer for the Golden Globe–winning television series The Affair. His screenplays include Possession, M. Butterfly, and Golden Gate. Hwang was a Residency One Playwright at Signature Theatre, which produced a season of his plays, and M. Butterfly was recently revived on Broadway. His newest stage work, Soft Power, a collaboration with composer Jeanine Tesori, enjoyed acclaimed runs in 2018 at L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre and San Francisco’s Curran Theatre, and then ran at the Public Theater in autumn 2019.
