Go Inside an Industry Screening of the Tony-Nominated Play Yellow Face

While Tony Award voters have to go to the theatre to see this season's Tony-nominated shows, there is one production they can watch from their homes: Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang—which is currently up for three Tonys, including Best Revival of a Play. The play, which closed last fall after a limited engagement, has been filmed by PBS and can be streamed until June 30 on PBS.org. For the industry folks who would rather see it in a theatre, Hwang and the show's stars have been hosting a number of screenings of the Yellow Face film.

At a May 18 screening at the Whitby Hotel, which also featured popcorn in Yellow Face containers, Hwang introduced the film by noting the play's historical significance: "I'm very grateful to the [Tony] nominators and everybody, because this is the first play in Broadway history in which East Asians are being centered as Americans." Indeed, musicals and plays set in Asia are fairly common on Broadway, but works about Asians living in America aren't as prevalent (though Hwang previously worked on a revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song, set in San Francisco).

Yellow Face mixes fact and fiction to tell a story of David Henry Hwang (played by Tony nominee Daniel Dae Kim) who speaks up against the Broadway production of Miss Saigon after Jonathan Pryce is cast to play a Vietnamese character. But then, David accidentally casts a white man to play an Asian character in his own play, Face Value. Meanwhile, his father Henry (Tony nominee Francis Jue) is under investigation by the United States government.

The play premiered in 2007, though Hwang notes it's become more relevant in the years since. "A lot of this play tells the story of my father, who was an immigrant, who was successful, until the country turned against him. And I think a lot of people when we did it in the fall were saying, 'Oh the play felt so current and relevant, like it was written last year.' We feel it's even more current now, because we see how the country is turning against immigrants. And I really am very grateful to have this show acknowledged which centers an immigrant's stories and asserts that immigrants are really the heart and soul of America."

Daniel Dae Kim and Nicole Scherzinger Nicole Scherzinger

READ: To Daniel Dae Kim and Francis Jue, Yellow Face's Broadway Success Shows How Far Asian Americans Have Come

In attendance at the screening were fellow Tony nominee Nicole Scherzinger, actor Hannah Cruz, Yellow Face cast member Marinda Anderson, and Audible's Kate Navin (who is a producer on the play).

Marinda Anderson and Francis Jue Janet Takami

The cast of Yellow Face also includes Kevin Del Aguila as Actor A, Ryan Eggold as Marcus, Marinda Anderson as Actor B, Greg Keller as Reporter, and Shannon Tyo as Leah. Casting is by Carrie Gardner and Jilliam Cimini.

Directed by Leigh Silverman, the production features scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costume design by Anita Yavich, lighting design by Lap Chi Chu, projection design by Lee Eun Nam, sound design and original music by Caroline Eng and Kate Marvin, and hair and makeup design by Will Vicari.

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