David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang’s stage works include the plays M. Butterfly, Yellow Face, Chinglish, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the musicals Soft Power, Aida, Flower Drum Song and Disney’s Tarzan. M. Butterfly was revived on Broadway in 2017, starring Clive Owen and Jin Ha. The Broadway premiere of Yellow Face, starring Daniel Dae Kim, was honored with three 2025 Tony Nominations, including Best Revival of a Play, and actor Francis Jue won Best Supporting Actor in a Play. The production was video-captured for PBS’ Great Performances and the audioplay version was named one of Audible’s “Best of 2024.”
Hwang has written thirteen opera libretti; Opera News called him America’s most-produced living opera librettist. Ainadamar (music by Osvaldo Golijov) received its Metropolitan Opera premiere in fall 2024, starring soprano Angel Blue. An American Soldier (music by Huang Ruo) received its New York premiere in spring 2024 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center and their new opera The Monkey King will open at San Francisco Opera in November 2025. Hwang also co-wrote the Gold Record Solo in 1994 with the late pop star Prince.
From 2015-2019, Hwang was a Writer/Consulting Producer for the Golden Globe-winning television series The Affair. His screenplays include Possession, M. Butterfly, and Golden Gate. He is penning an Anna May Wong biopic to star actress Gemma Chan and a musical feature film for Paramount Pictures. Hwang is also creating a new TV series based on the New York Times Bestseller Billion Dollar Whale for Westward/SK Global.
David Henry Hwang is a Tony Award winner and four-time nominee, a three-time OBIE Award winner, a Grammy winner and two-time nominee, and a three-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Recent honors include an Honorary Doctorate (his seventh) from California State University, his election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, his induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame, and the Dramatists Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Hwang serves on boards of the Dramatists Guild, Dramatists Guild Fund, and Entertainment Community Fund. He is also a Trustee and former Chair of the American Theatre Wing.
News
Professor Emeritus David Henry Hwang revised the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic 25 years ago. Now he gets to remedy some of his own remake’s flaws. Read more from The New York Times.
Read more in The New York Times Style Magazine.
On June 18, Pulitzer Prize–winning editor of The New York Times and Bloomberg Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Journalism School (JRN) Winnie O’Kelley joined award-winning writer and Columbia School of the Arts Theatre professor David Henry Hwang at Columbia University for a conversation about the challenges of chronicling one of the greatest financial frauds in a generation.
The Metropolitan Opera recently announced their 2024-2025 season, a lineup which will include Theatre Professor David Henry Hwang’s opera Ainadamar.
Theatre professor David Henry Hwang’s opera, An American Soldier, will premiere in New York this spring at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in Lower Manhattan.
Professor David Henry Hwang is leading the creation of Billion Dollar Whale, a new television series; and nearly all the members of the show's producing and writing teams are Columbia alumni.
Playwriting professor David Henry Hwang’s Obie-award-winning play, Yellow Face, is headed to Broadway—marking Hwang’s ninth Broadway show.
Associate Professor of Theatre and Head of Playwriting David Henry Hwang and Visual Arts Professor Sarah Sze are among this year’s honorees for the Asia Arts Game Changer Awards.
Professor David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face will be adapted for the audio storytelling platform, Audible, as the first venture of a multi-project development deal with actor, director, and producer Daniel Dae Kim.
Theatre Professor and Tony Award-winning writer David Henry Hwang is set to leave his signature mark on Disney's upcoming live-action remake of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Playwriting Concentration Head and Associate Professor David Henry Hwang has been named this year’s Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee as part of the Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway.
Concentration Head and Associate Professor of Playwriting David Henry Hwang will lead the screenplay for a new Anna May Wong biopic starring Gemma Chan, who is also a producer on the project. The project is an adaptation of Graham Russell Gao Hodges's biography of the early Hollywood star, Anna May Wong: From Laundrywoman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend. Wong’s career in Hollywood was often plagued by industry prejudice and discrimination. In response to her limited opportunities in Hollywood, she went overseas to perform in Europe. There, she dedicated much of her career to portraying Chinese accounts of life during World War II.
Associate Professor David Henry Hwang’s new opera, The Rift, will premiere as a part of the Washington National Opera’s Written in Stone program for the Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary celebration.
Circus Days & Nights is a new opera by the legendary composer Philip Glass, Associate Professor and librettist David Henry Hwang, and circus director Tilde Björfors.
Associate Professor of Writing Hilton Als, Associate Professor of Theatre David Henry Hwang, and Visual Arts Mentor Ralph Lemon were among those elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2021.
Here, we talk with Associate Professor of Theatre and Playwriting Concentration Head David Henry Hwang about his most recent projects, the challenges of collaboration in the Zoom era, and the power of authenticity in art.
Music’s biggest night will feature the works of many Columbia faculty and alumni.
The 65th annual Drama Desk Award nominees include productions featuring Columbia Faculty, alumni, and current students.
Soft Power by Barnard alumna Jeanine Tesori ’83 and Professor David Henry Hwang, launched its cast recording featuring the Off Broadway cast of the New York premiere production at The Public Theater.
Faculty member and Tony Award-winner David Henry Hwang and Barnard College alumna and Tony Award-winner Jeanine Tesori ’83 bring a new high concept musical-within-a-play to The Public Theatre for its New York premiere.