David Henry Hwang (simplified Chinese: 黄哲伦; traditional Chinese: 黃哲倫; pinyin: Huáng Zhélún; born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor.
I visited a new cultural center in Shanghai in 2005 that was pretty much perfect, except for the really badly translated Chinglish signs: a handicapped restroom that said Deformed Mans Toilet, that kind of thing.
It's the stories that make my heart beat faster. . . those are the ones to write about
We are all prisoners of our time and place.
Originally the structure was. . . a modern narrator who would appear intermittently and talk about his memories of his grandmother, which would then be juxtaposed against scenes from the past. But the stories from the past were always more interesting that the things in the present. I find this almost endemic to modern plays that veer between past and present. . . . So as we've gone on developing GOLDEN CHILD, the scenes from the past have become more dominant, and all that remains of the present are these two little bookends that frame the action.
I felt pretty good growing up. I didnt feel a lot of prejudice or racism. But I do remember, if there was going to be a movie or a television show with Asian characters, I would go out of my way to avoid them, because they portrayed all Asians as either ridiculously good or ridiculously bad; you know, the whole Charlie Chan-Fu Manchu thing.
There's a reason why the form was originally silent
Consider it this way: what would you say if a blond homecoming queen fell in love with a short Japanese businessman? He treats her cruelly, then goes home for three years, during which time she prays to his picture and turns down marriage from a young Kennedy. Then, when she learns he has remarried, she kills herself. Now I believe you should consider this girl to be a deranged idiot, correct? But because it's an Oriental who kills herself for a Westerner–ah!–you find it beautiful.
The West believes the East, deep down, wants to be dominated, because a woman can’t think for herself
Sometimes I hate you, sometimes I hate myself, but always I miss you
Time flies when you’re being stupid.
I've never quite understood the idea of a "season. " Whenever an artistic director says to me, 'I have this slot,' I always start to feel we're parking cars or something.
. . . I felt I was finally in a position to affect not only the artistic content of the American theatre, but also its institutional structures. This has been an important goal of mine, as there have always been a variety of issues - artistic freedom, author's rights, access by minority groups - which have concerned me and even influenced my decision to become a playwright in the first place.
Well, there's no guarantee of failure in life like happiness in high school.
Ive studied Chinese in college, but basically, Im not bilingual.
Tonight, I've finally learned to tell fantasy from reality. And, knowing the difference, I choose fantasy.
Death with honor is better than life. . . life with dishonor.
To me to write well is to battle stereotypes. To write well is to create three-dimensional characters that seem human.
Why, in the Peking Opera, are women's roles played by men?. . . Because only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act.
I knew I was Chinese, but growing up, it never occurred to me that that had any particular implication or that it should differentiate me in any way. I thought it was a minor detail, like having red hair.