Yellow Face

EDITED POST

So, change of plans. Our actual next show is the eagerly anticipated new play by David Henry Hwang, Yellow Face. We are going to be in the audience for the invited dress, meaning we will see it before anyone else in New York does! Sunday November 18th is the date, and it looks like we're on for 7pm. If that changes, I'll let you know as soon as I know.

Hwang is a well known and celebrated playwright, author of M. Butterfly, Golden Child, and Flower Drum Song. Yellow Face delves comically into the rich territory of identity politics, as the play is a fictional account of his protest of the Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce playing an Eurasian character, the Engineer, in the original cast of Miss Saigon. After a protracted battle between producers and the Actors' Equity Association, Pryce ended up on stage as the Engineer and won a Tony for it. Asian actors have since played the role, but the debate lingers on. Like white minstrels performing in blackface, yellowface has a long history. Click on this article for more.

Think about the ways in which systematic discrimination and privilege play out on stage and behind the scenes.

See you on Friday with your objects for show and tell! And I added the Overheard In New York link on the right sidebar.