He has a few identity issues
A writer pursues truth by any means necessary. Spinning real life into fiction -- in essence, lying with artistic intent -- is one of the oldest methods for accessing the complicated hidden meanings beneath reality's often misleading veneer.
David Henry Hwang's captivating new play, "Yellow Face," which had its world premiere Sunday at the Mark Taper Forum, re-imagines a series of flashpoint incidents from the playwright's past concerning matters of race, identity and, that most puzzling of all concepts, authenticity. It's a low-boil farce masquerading as a documentary (complete with an announcer played by Tony Torn) in which fact and fantasy mix and mingle like nobody's business.
In an age when narratives are doctored for dubious purposes (selling memoirs is the least of it), we've become increasingly anxious about the blurring of fiction and nonfiction. But we shouldn't forget that, in the hands of an artist like Hwang, creative fibbing can lead to the kind of revelation straightforward autobiography just can't scratch.
Too bad the production, directed by Leigh Silverman, isn't as buoyant as the writing. The flat-footed staging, marked by caricatured acting and sluggish timing, lacks the required comic ping. But don't let that put you off from seeing a play that's Hwang's most intellectually resonant since his Tony-winning "M. Butterfly."
"Yellow Face" harks back to an earlier Hwang work you probably haven't heard much about: "Face Value," a play that was written in response to the controversy surrounding "Miss Saigon," the West End musical featuring Jonathan Pryce as a Eurasian pimp. When it was announced that "Miss Saigon" was coming to Broadway in 1991 with Pryce as the star, Hwang was one of the leaders in the protest against the casting of a white actor in a role of color. A fracas ensued on the Great White Way when union officials at Actors' Equity initially barred Pryce from acting in the production, then reversed its decision after producer Cameron Mackintosh said he was canceling the show. Pryce went on to win the Tony for his performance, and Hwang gave vent to his feeling in a play that notoriously closed in previews on Broadway in 1993.
Given the poor showing "Face Value" had, you would think Hwang would want to leave this chapter of his career behind him. But "Yellow Face" contrives a new backstage scenario for his old flop in which Hwang inadvertently casts a non-Asian actor for a principal Asian role in the play. Marcus (Peter Scanavino) is brought in after receiving good reviews for an "Asian" production on the West Coast. He looks Caucasian but, hungry for work, is intentionally vague about his background.
