David Henry Hwang Biography (1957-)

Born August 11, 1957, in Los Angeles, CA; son of Henry Yuan (a banker) and Dorothy Yu (a professor of piano; maiden name, Huang) Hwang; married Ophelia Y.M. Chong (an artist), September 21, 1985 (divorced October, 1989); married Kathryn Layng (an actress), December 17, 1993; children: (second marriage) Noah. Addresses: Agent: Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Playwright, producer, director
Birth Details: August 11, 1957; Los Angeles, California, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Stage Director
F.O.B., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 1979
A Song for a Nisei Fisherman, 1980
The Dream of Kitamura, 1982
F.O.B., Playhouse 46, New York City, 1990
Television Work
Miniseries
Coproducer, The Lost Empire (also known as Monkey King--Ein Krieger zwischen den Welten), NBC, 2001
Television Appearances
Specials
Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Story, PBS, 1990
The Chinese Americans, PBS, 1999
Film Work
Assistance, Forbidden City, U.S.A., 1989
Executive producer, M. Butterfly, Warner Bros., 1993
Script advisor, Picture Bride (also known as Bijo photo), Miramax, 1994
Film Appearances
Himself, Asian Pride Porn, AtomFilms, 2000
Robot Stories, 2001
WRITINGS
Plays
F.O.B. (two-act; title means "Fresh Off the Boat"), first producedin Stanford, CA, 1978, then at the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference,Waterford, CT, 1979, then the Public Theater, New York Shakespeare Festival,1980
The Dance and the Railroad, first produced at New Federal Theater,New York City, 1981, then the Public Theater, 1981

Family Devotions, produced at Public Theater, 1981
Sound and Beauty (one-act; includes The House of Sleeping Beauties, based on a novella by Yasunari Kawabata and The Sound of a Voice), produced at Public Theater, 1983
Broken Promises: Four Plays (contains F.O.B., The Danceand the Railroad, Family Devotions, and The House of Sleeping Beauties), Avon Books, 1983
The Sound of a Voice, Dramatists Play Service, 1984
Rich Relations, produced at Second Stage Theater, 1986
As the Crow Flies, produced in Los Angeles, 1986
Broken Promises (includes The Dance and the Railroad and The House of Sleeping Beauties), produced in London, 1987
M. Butterfly, first produced in Washington, DC, 1988, then the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, 1988, published by Plume, 1989
1000 Airplanes on the Roof (musical; music by Philip Glass, designand projections by Jerome Sirlin), produced at the Danube Festival of LowerAustria, Vienna, Austria, 1988, then the American Music Theater Festival, Philadelphia, PA, 1988, published by Gibbs-Smith, 1989
The Voyage (opera), produced at Metropolitan Opera, New York City,1992
Golden Gate, produced 1993
Face Value, produced at Cort Theatre, New York City, 1993
The Silver River, produced at Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, 1997
Golden Child, produced at Joseph Papp Public Theatre/Newman Theatre, New York City, 1996, revised edition produced at Longacre Theatre, New York City, 1998
Contributor to book, Aida (musical), produced at Palace Theatre, New York City, 2000
Revised book, Flower Drum Song (musical), produced at Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, c. 2001, then Virginia Theatre, New York City, 2002-2003
Plays represented in anthologies, including Between Worlds: Contemporary Asian American Plays, New Plays USA 1, Best Short Plays of 1982, Best Plays of 1981-1982, and Best Plays of 1987-1988.
Television Specials
Blind Alleys, syndicated, 1985
(With Frederick Kimbal) Mixed Emotions, WCVB-TV, 1985
My American Son, HBO, 1987
Television Miniseries
The Lost Empire (also known as Monkey King--Ein Krieger zwischen den Welten), NBC, 2001
Television Movies
Original Stories
Forbidden Nights, CBS, 1990
Television Episodes
"Dances in Exile" (also known as "Ruby Chang"), Alive TV, PBS, 1985
Screenplays
M. Butterfly (adapted from Hwang's play of the same name), WarnerBros., 1993
Golden Gate, Samuel Goldwyn, 1994
Possession, Warner Bros., 2002
The Magic Brush, Miramax, 2003
Also wrote The Idiot (adapted from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel of the same title); Igo Ono. Also adapted Heinrich Harrer's Seven Yearsin Tibet, Disney.

Further Reference

ADAPTATIONS

The Dance and the Railroad was broadcast by Arts and Entertainmentin 1982.

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Contemporary Authors, Volume 132, Gale, 1991
Contemporary Dramatists, St. James Press, 1988
Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 55, Gale, 1989
Newsmakers 1999, Gale Group, 1999
Street, Douglas, David Henry Hwang, Boise State University Press,1989

Periodicals

AsiAm, August, 1988, pp. 26-31
Newsday, September 27, 1981, p. 17
New York Times, July 12, 1981, p. 4
New York Times Magazine, March 13, 1988, pp. 44, 88-89
U.S. News and World Report, March 28, 1988, p. 52
Variety, June 3, 2002, p. A8

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