Review: YELLOW FACE at Mānoa Valley Theatre

At what point does the mask you wear become your face?

In Yellow Face, playwright David Henry Hwang serves up a mockumentary-style seriocomedy chronicling nearly two decades of his life and career, centering issues like racial identity, authenticity in art, and the constant struggle against Sinophobia and “yellow peril” rhetoric.

Or does it?

The line between what is fact and what is fiction—what is the mask and what is the face—is at the core of the show, perhaps best represented by the fact that Hwang the playwright is, himself, the main character. Just below the surface of the “mask” of David Henry Hwang the Character (billed as “DHH”, and expertly played by Reyn Afaga) lies the “face” of David Henry Hwang The Man. Both are the Tony-winning playwright of M. Butterfly, outspoken activists, proud children of immigrants, and pillars of the Asian-American community. But only DHH takes us on an emotional journey through the difficulties that minorities face in the theatre community and in society at large, all through the lens of a casting SNAFU that lands a Caucasian man in an Asian role.

To say this show has not lost its cultural relevance since it debuted in 2007 is both accurate and sobering, but also does not capture the full range of questions it asks the audience to consider: Who is “Asian enough”? Who is “White enough”? Who gets to decide? Why does it matter? Considering how significant the hapa population in Hawai’i is, Yellow Face is not asking us anything new, but rather reflects back to us the questions we ask ourselves every day, the Imposter Syndrome that nearly all of us experience to some extent. Despite the late third-act rug-pull which made moot my emotional investment, I was still glad to see that Mānoa Valley Theatre chose to mount this production in the face of this current political and social climate.

As DHH, Afaga wears many hats: narrator, hero, coward, son, celebrity, and de facto cultural ambassador, to name a few. He wears them all with style and a thoroughly grounded energy that never feels overdone or shticky. The comedic moments he is granted come naturally, organically, and provide the necessary levity to understand that Hwang is lampooning himself as much as any other entity under fire. While I feel it is worth it to see Yellow Face for Afaga’s performance alone, the rest of the cast is quite strong as well. Nicholas Gianforti as Marcus Gee was exceptional as the sole Caucasian (and plot device), and his push-and-pull chemistry with Afaga was delightful to watch. Sam Bui was a standout in his many roles, but it was his performance as “HYH”(Henry Yuan Hwang, David Henry Hwang’s father) that made me misty-eyed, especially during his monologue about what motivated him to find his “real life” in America as a young Chinese immigrant. I was also quite impressed by Brandon Caban as “Name Withheld on Advice of Council” (a “fictionalized” version of New York Times investigative reporter Jeff Gerth), which he played with utmost sincerity and menace.

Director Reiko Ho states that she envisioned this play as taking place in the playwright’s mind, which I felt was accurately represented in the incredibly sparse set (Willie Sabel), further complimented by Costume Designer Amber Lehua Baker’s neutral palette and basic pieces, punctuated with bright accessories when a change of character was required (about forty in total, played by everyone except Afaga and Gianforti). Against such a barren landscape, the lighting (Janine Myers) and sound (Sarah Velasco) did a lot of heavy lifting, with spotlights providing a semi-cinematic framing device for the show’s many quick cutaways, and a variety of typewriters, phones, Dong folk songs, and some pointed choices of music, including Styx’s “Mr. Roboto” during preshow and Mark Jonathan David’s Vanilla Ice parody song “Rice Rice Baby” for curtain call.

Reader Reviews

To post a comment, you must register and login.

Don't Miss a Hawaii News Story
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...