Chinglish (play)
Encyclopedia
Chinglish is a new American play by Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 winner David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang is an American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S.He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at the Yale School of Drama and Stanford University...

. It is a comedy about an American businessman desperate to launch a new enterprise in China, which opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 October 27, 2011 with direction by Leigh Silverman.

Production History

Chinglish began at the Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre
The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...

 in Chicago, IL, where it ran from June 18, 2011, until July 24, 2011. It was Hwang's second collaboration with OBIE Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...

-winning director Leigh Silverman, following Yellow Face
Yellow Face
Yellow Face is a play by David Henry Hwang, featuring the author himself as the protagonist. It premiered in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum in association with East West Players and had its Off-Broadway premiere at the Joseph Papp Public Theater...

at the Center Theater Group and The Public Theater.


Few plays in recent years have delighted me as much as Chinglish. With a career spanning more than three decades and a canon that incorporates an array of genres, David is one of the luminaries of contemporary American theater. I have admired his work since long before our collaboration on the Broadway musical Aida, and it is a thrill to welcome him to the Goodman for the first time.


-Robert Falls

Robert Falls
Robert Falls is an American theater director and the current Artistic Director of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.-Early years:Falls was born in Ashland, Illinois to Arthur Joseph Falls and Nancy Stribling...

, Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre
The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...

 Artistic Director




It was announced in Summer 2011 that the play would come to the Longacre Theatre
Longacre Theatre
The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 220 West 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.-Theatre History:Designed by architect Henry Beaumont Herts in 1912, it was named for Longacre Square, the original name for Times Square...

 on Broadway with the following cast: Gary Wilmes, Jennifer Lim
Jennifer Lim
Jennifer Lim is a British actress, who is perhaps best known for her appearance as Samantha in the first television show made especially for mobile phones, called When Evil Calls directed by Johannes Roberts....

, Angela Lin, Christine Lin, Stephen Pucci, Johnny Wu and Larry Lei Zhang.

Chicago


FOUR STARS! In Hwang's hilarious Chinglish, the Chinese tiger roars, American business trembles. Laughs and sexual pleasure in translation. A shrewd, timely and razor sharp comedy! David Henry Hwang's best work since M. Butterfly

M. Butterfly
M. Butterfly is a 1988 play by David Henry Hwang loosely based on the relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a male Peking opera singer....

. -Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...





One of the funniest plays in memory...Chinglish has characters not clichés - the Chinese aren't worker bees, the American isn't an arrogant idiot. -Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...



New York


“Fresh, energetic and unlike anything else on Broadway. Chinglish is a thoughtful, funny and poignant piece in which, miraculously, nothing gets lost in translation.” -Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 





“A lethal comedy about business, sex and the failure to communicate that bristles with intelligence.” -Bloomberg

Bloomberg
Bloomberg may refer to:* Michael Bloomberg , American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and Mayor of New York City...

 



Awards

Chinglish was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Awards
Joseph Jefferson Awards
The Joseph Jefferson Awards are given annually by a volunteer non-profit committee to acknowledge excellence in theatre in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are given in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson...

, including:
  • Best Production - "Chinglish"
  • Director - Leigh Silverman
  • Actress in a Principal Role - Jennifer Lim
  • New Work - David Henry Hwang - (WON)
  • Scenic Design - David Korins - (WON)

Plot

An American businessman arrives in a bustling Chinese province looking to score a lucrative contact for his family’s sign-making firm. He soon finds that the complexities of such a venture far outstrip the expected differences in language, customs and manners – and calls into questions even the most basic assumptions of human conduct.


The U.S. and China are at a critical moment in history—each nation is deeply interested in, but knows very little about the other. Chinglish was born from the many visits I’ve made to China over the past five or six years to witness the exciting changes there. During one visit, I toured a new arts center where everything was first-rate—except for the ridiculously translated English signs. It was at that moment I thought of writing this play.”


-David Henry Hwang

David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang is an American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S.He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at the Yale School of Drama and Stanford University...

, Playwright




Characters and Broadway Cast

  • Daniel Cavanaugh - Gary Wilmes
  • Xi Yan - Jennifer Lim
    Jennifer Lim (theatre actress)
    Jennifer Lim is a Chinese/Korean theatre actress most noted for her performance in the 2011 Broadway show Chinglish by playwright David Henry Hwang, appearing at the Longacre Theatre.-Personal life:...

  • Miss Qian / Prosecutor Li - Angela Lin
  • Miss Zhao - Christine Lin
  • Peter Timms - Stephen Pucci
  • Bing / Judge Xu Geming - Johnny Wu
  • Minister Cai Guoliang - Larry Lei Zhang

Production Credits

  • David Henry Hwang
    David Henry Hwang
    David Henry Hwang is an American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S.He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at the Yale School of Drama and Stanford University...

    (Playwright)
  • Leigh Silverman (Direction)
  • David Korins (Set Design)
  • Anita Yavich(Costume Design)
  • Brian MacDevitt (Lighting Design)
  • Darron L. West (Sound Design)
  • Jeff Sugg & Shawn Duan (Projection Design)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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