David Henry Hwang News

General Director Robert K. Meya today announced two new world premiere operas commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera. Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly will open on August 1, 2020. 

On May 6th and 7th, the Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC), Utah's leading destination for brave, contemporary theatre, presented the Utah premiere of David Henry Hwang's 1981 play, THE DANCE AND THE RAILROAD. The special event is being presented as part of statewide festivities organized by Utah's Transcontinental Railroad 150th Celebration Commission, also known as Spike 150, which was founded by the Utah State Legislature and Governor Gary Herbert.

The Santa Fe Opera's General Director Robert K. Meya today announced repertory and casting for the company's exciting 64th Season in 2020. On the panel joining Meya for the announcement were the President of the Board of Directors Susan G. Marineau, Andrea Fellows Walters, Director of Community Engagement, and Cori Ellison, the company's first, recently appointed Dramaturg.

Jason Ma and his company of Asian American actors are currently in rehearsal at different venues around Salt Lake City for the upcoming semi-staged concert presentations of his new musical Gold Mountain, which has sold out its Salt Lake City run. Those hoping to catch one of the Spike 150 celebration performances can see this original musical in nearby Ogden.

This year's Tony Awards nominations were announced this morning by Bebe Neuwirth and Brandon Victor Dixon.

On April 23rd, the New-York Historical Society's latest installment of the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Distinguished Speakers Series showcased An American Soldier, a two-act opera composed by Huang Ruo, featuring a libretto by David Henry Hwang, in the Robert H. Smith Auditorium at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024.

MediaRites, a nonprofit organization that provides innovative, award-winning documentary, theatre and outreach programs today announced a major milestone with CoHo Productions on its first co-produced play, The Brothers Paranormal by award-winning LA playwright Prince Gomolvilas. Theatre Diaspora, a program of MediaRites, is Oregon's only professional Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) theatre company committed to portraying authentic AAPI cultural, historical, and social perspectives to reach broad audiences.  Performance dates are Oct. 25-Nov. 16, 2019 at CoHo Theatre (2257 NW Raleigh St, Portland, OR 97210) and The Brothers Paranormal will be directed by Catherine Ming T'ien Duffly, MediaRites board member and assistant professor, theatre department at Reed College.

Theater Breaking Through Barriers (Samuel D. Hunter's The Healing) kicks off its 40th Anniversary season with the World Premiere of PUBLIC SERVANT by Bekah Brunstetter (NBC's Emmy-winning drama This Is Us and the just announced Oklahoma TV series).

David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly, a tale of obsession, perception and the allure of fantasy, will conclude South Coast Repertory's 2018-19 season. Hwang's break-out hit-a Tony Award-winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist-is about more than steamy seduction and fantasy; inspired by a true account, it's a compelling story of espionage, East-West relations and betrayal. Desdemona Chiang, in her SCR debut, directs the show on the Segerstrom Stage, May 11-June 8. Tickets are available online at www.scr.org.

We found ourselves in the conflict zone of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, where protesters on stage were shouting "Down with Mubarak!" as we entered The Singapore Airlines Theatre of LASALLE College of the Arts. We settled down to watch the latest production of Aida, as part of The Lasalle Show, an annual graduation showcase.

Chance Theater, Anaheim's official resident theater company, is pleased to present a staged reading of award-winning playwright John Glore's Creep. This staged reading is being directed by Artistic Director Oanh Nguyen as part of Chance Theater's OTR New Works Series. Creep will be presented for one night only on Wednesday, May 8 at 7:30pm at Chance Theater @ Bette Aitken theater arts Center on the Cripe Stage.

The Public Theater just celebrated opening night of SOCRATES, written by Tim Blake Nelson and directed by Doug Hughes. SOCRATES runs through Sunday, May 19.

New Jersey Repertory Company (NJ Rep) will present 'Surfing My DNA' by actressplaywright, Jodi Long from Thursday, May 2 through Sunday, May 26, 2019. Directed by Eric Rosen, the play stars Jodi Long and features composermusician Yukio Tsuji. Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Jodi Long about her career and the upcoming show.

Following a sold-out performance at The Boxcar at Steep in January, THIN MINTS returns with a free public reading on Sunday, May 5 at 11 am. The play has been programmed into Prop Theatre's Church of the New Play series. The reading will mark the next step in the play's development process which included a workshop production at Columbia University in 2016 and subsequent developmental readings and workshops in Chicago in 2018 and 2019. Audience members are encouraged to participate in a post-show discussion with the playwright, director, and cast.

Columbia University School of the Arts presents seven new plays written by the Columbia MFA Playwriting Students of 2019. The esteemed faculty who have nurtured these students, including Tony©, Pulitzer, and Obie Award winners such as Charles Mee, Lynn Nottage, and David Henry Hwang invite you to experience these innovative new playwrights.

The Tony Awards Administration Committee met today for the third time this season and confirmed the eligibility status of seven Broadway productions for the 2019 American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards®. The Tony Awards Administration Committee will meet a total of four times throughout the 2018-2019 season to decide the eligibility for the 73rd Annual Tony Awards.      

 Palo Alto Players continues its 2018-19 season with FLOWER DRUM SONG, Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang's new adaptation of the 1958 Rodgers and Hammerstein classic musical.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the full cast for the world premiere of Kiss My Aztec! John Leguizamo teams up with Artistic Director Tony Taccone for this musical comedy, following their collaboration on the hit one-man show Latin History for Morons, which received its world premiere at Berkeley Rep before heading to Broadway. Leguizamo will serve as co-writer and co-lyricist only for Kiss My Aztec! - 11 other talented actors will perform in this production. Taccone will also direct.

The Syracuse University Department of Drama resumes its 2018-2019 season with 'The Wild Party,'written and composed by Andrew Lippa. Faculty members Katherine McGerr and Andrea Lee Smith will take the audience into the world of the Roaring '20s with their direction and choreography. The musical will run from March 29 through April 7 in the Syracuse Stage/ Drama Complex, 820 East Genesee Street, Syracuse, New York, 13210.

Can opera be a medium for social commentary and change? I've been thinking about this lately--or, more accurately, yet again--since attending a preview of the new Jeanne Tesori-Tazewell Thompson opera, BLUE, which was part of the Guggenheim Museum's fascinating Works & Process series. The performance of excerpts and roundtable with its creators were part of preparations for the work's world premiere this summer at the Glimmerglass Festival.