Yellow Face

By David Henry Hwang

Directed by Drew Barr

The lines between truth and fiction blur with hilarious and moving results in David Henry Hwang's unreliable memoir play. Asian-American playwright DHH, fresh off his Tony Award win, leads a protest against the casting of Jonathan Pryce as the Eurasian pimp in the original Broadway production of Miss Saigon, condemning the practice as "yellowface." His position comes back to haunt him when he mistakes a Caucasian actor for mixed-race, and casts him in the lead Asian role of his own Broadway-bound comedy. Meanwhile, DHH's father an immigrant who loves the American Dream, finds himself ensnared in the late-1990's anti-Chinese paranoia that also leads to the "Donorgate" scandal. This new racist witch hunt forces DHH to confront the complex and ever-changing role that "face" plays in American life today.

"One of the Year's Ten Best. This farcical faux documentary investigates racial and cultural authenticity in a play that knows when irony must give way to sincerity, and vice versa." - Los Angeles Times