20th century american theatre: Contemporary

David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly

David Henry Hwang

* Chinese American born in 1957
* Father a successful accountant, mother a pianist, both immigrants
* Father wanted to assimilate, mother was a fundamentalist Christian (The family did not celebrate Chinese holidays, Hwang did not grow up immersed in Chinese heritage)
* Started connecting with his roots in college
* Played violin and competed in debates as a child
* used these skills for in his plays
* understanding of music supports creation of dramatic structure
* Debate contributes to interest in opposing ideas within his plays
* Originally enrolled in college to study law, soon realized he wanted to write plays instead
* Due to newfound interest in his heritage, plays often reflected experiences of new immigrants of descendants of immigrants

FOB

* David Henry Hwangs first play
* explored confrontation between Eastern and Western traditions
* Dramatization of confrontation between reality and myth
* Two characters see themselves as Guan Gong (Chinese God of warriors) and Fa Mu Lan (legendary folk heroine)
* Ritualized battle in the play
* Originally performed on campus as part of festival of student plays
* Soon produced off-broadway
* Ritualized battle adopted movements and visual elements of Peking Opera for professional production
* Launched Hwang’s interest in combining of Eastern and Western theatrical traditions, which we see in M. Butterfly

M. Butterfly

* Opened at Broadway’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre in 1988
* Gained critical acclaim
* Became one of the most successful non-musical plays in Broadway history
* Won several awards for Best Play
* Based on story of french diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Peking Opera star Shi Pei Pu
* Hwang realized Boursicot fell in love with a stereotype, which was conveyed in the Italian Opera, Madame Butterfly (Stereotyped East-Asian women as delicate, submissive, and self-sacrificing)
* M. Butterfly partially based on a real life event, partially based on Madame Butterfly
* Madame Butterfly was based on an American one-act play from 1900
* One-act play was based on a short story
* Short story was based on a semi-autobiographical french novel, Madame Chrysanthème

David Henry Hwang essentials

* Chinese American, did not grow up immersed in culture, began discovering more during college
* First play was FOB -- Explored confrontations between eastern/western traditions
* (FOB) Ritualized battle -- took inspo from Peking opera
* M. Butterfly one of the most successful non musical plays in broadway history
* M. Butterfly based on story of french diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Peking Opera star Shi Pei Pu
* East asian stereotype of woman being submissive, delicate, etc.

Guan Gong

Chinese God of warriors

* A character in FOB

Fa Mu Lan

Legendary folk heroine

* a character in FOB