Chicago Tribune + Chinglish

Here's a portion of a review from the Chicago Tribune on David Henry Hwang's "Chinglish":

"Chinglish," surely Hwang's best work since "M. Butterfly," gets most of its many laughs from the mistranslations that invariably accompany any attempts made by Americans and Chinese to speak with each other. These sequences, based on Hwang's own experiences, are exceedingly funny: We watch "my hands are tied" become "he is in bondage" or "travel home safely" get mangled as an instruction to "leave in haste." The Cleveland businessman (played by James Waterston with a deft mix of the bland and the earnest) is actually in the business of making signs for public buildings, which adds another level of absurdity to the amusement.

By necessity, the play is performed in Mandarin and English by a mostly bilingual cast, with subtitles projected on the set. But the savvy director Leigh Silverman makes sure that everything is crystal clear to the audience, even as the characters are lost at sea.

Read it in full.

The Asia Society, Asians In "Yellow Face", And David Henry Hwang

Speaking of Yellow Face (see the previous post), here's an exclusive interview with David Henry Hwang from the Asia Society:

David Henry Hwang on Asian American racial identity and "the face we choose to show the world [versus] who we are" -- in his new play "Yellow Face." With excerpts from a January 2008 performance at The Public Theater in New York. Exclusive interview conducted by the Asia Society.

Here's the original clip link down at YouTube.