Chinglish
Gary Wilmes, star of the recent acclaimed GATZ joins original Goodman cast members Jennifer Lim, Angela Lin, Christine Lin, Stephen Pucci, Johnny Wu and Larry Lei Zhang. Leigh Silverman, who directed Lisa Kron’s WELL on Broadway and won a 2011 OBIE for directing both GO BACK TO WHERE YOU ARE and IN THE WAKE will return to direct the Broadway production.
The premise of the play centers around the challenges of doing business in a culture whose language-and ways of communicating-
“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”, said playwright David Henry Hwang. “CHINGLISH was born from the many visits I’ve made to China over the past 5 or 6 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 that I thought of writing this play.”
The opening of this play marks somewhat of a milestone on Broadway or rather it’s working to strengthen the milestone. The fact that Broadway is more and more embracing diversity, racial diversity that is in the work it presents on stage seems to be more common than ever and the young actors couldn’t be more thrilled to continue that quest to show that people of all colors do exist in the arts.
I had the pleasure of speaking with 3 of the young actors from this production Angela Lin, Christine Lin (no relation) and Johnny Wu and they are all in agreement that working with Mr Hwang is a gift to them not just as actors or even Asian American actors but as artists. “David is the most loving, generous and easy playwright to be around. David’s not so precious about his words, if he sees that something’s not working for the actor he’ll change it with no hesitation, he really trusts his actors” said Christine Lin gleefully of her playwright friend. Which means that this Broadway production will be an updated script from the Goodman production, “David would come in every rehearsal with rewrites right up until opening.” said Johnny Wu. And as for how Asian Americans will be portrayed and are generally portrayed on stage the actors are all in agreement that it is about the play and it should be blind to color, Mr Wu goes on to say “The work lies in being able to generate stories that employ minorities that are accessible to everybody. As a writer myself I feel that If you think you feel under represented then it’s your responsibility to change that. It’s a play so we as artists are there to play”. Christine Lin adds “It’s tremendously important that David’s voice is out there to show that we Asians are not just the peripheral vision of society because it’s hard to make theatres change without voices like David’s to put us out there”
Mr Wu also speaks highly of his director Leigh Silverman and immediately dismissed any doubts about a non Asian directing a play with Asian themes “Right off the bat from auditioning I was aware of their (Mr Hwang and Ms Silverman) harmonious relationship. I had full faith that she knew what she was doing and that she was there to fully serve David’s work”.
For these enthusiastically excited actors some of whom had no idea David Henry Hwang existed when they began their careers have come to look up to Mr Hwang as a gateway to opportunities for not just Asians but for all actors of color. They are clearly having the time of their lives and it will be much anticipated to see if that fun can successfully transcend to the stage when CHINGLISH begins previews at The Longacre Theatre October 11th and officially opens at a soon to be announced later date.
For more information on CHINGLISH and how you can buy tickets go to www.chinglishbroadway.com
