YELLOW FACE A "DIDACTIC FARCE"

Marcus "Gee" Dahlman (Thomas Azar, center) leads protestors (Amy Resnick, left, Howard Swain, center back, and Francis Jue, right) supporting Asian American rights in the Bay Area premiere of YELLOW FACE at TheatreWorks. Photo Credit: Tracy Martin

YELLOW FACE by David Henry Hwang, directed by Robert Kelley. TheatreWorks at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St. (at Mercy), Mountain View, CA. 650-463-1960, or visit www.theatreworks.org. August 26 - September 20, 2009.

A GREAT SECOND ACT LIFTS YELLOW FACE AT THEATREWORKS OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

A neighbor who became wealthy in the high tech field, suggested that his autobiography depicts, not what actually happened, but as he remembered it and an unnamed sage (possibly Confucius?) opines, “A lesson taught with humor is a lesson remembered.” David Henry Hwang has taken both of these suggestions to heart in the construction of Yellow Face, receiving its Bay Area premiere at TheatreWorks. In this age where new technical words are common, it seems appropriate to coin the phrase “didactic farce” to apply to Hwang’s latest offering bemoaning the fact Asians are under represented on stage and screen. Not only under represented, but belittled by casting Caucasians as Asians suggesting distinct racism. Hence the title Yellow Face.

David Henry Hwang is the most successful living Asian playwright having won, in 1988, the Tony Award for his play M Butterfly. His multiple other awards include being a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In the 1990's, Hwang became the poster boy leading the attack over the casting of white Jonathan Pryce as an Asian for lead role in Miss Saigon. Pryce went on to win the Tony Award for his performance. In an attempt to re-emphasize the “yellow face’ inequity, he wrote the play Face Value that closed after eight preview performances. Yellow Face outlines, with fact and fancy, that period of his life when he inadvertently cast a white actor Marcus (Thomas Azar), who is given the stage name of Marcus Gee, to play the lead as an Asian in Face Value.

Hwang has written himself into the script as DHH (Pun Bandu) and is on stage throughout both acts describing, explaining and justifying his actions. The play is staged on a multi-level plain stage with a central panel upstage for projections and the first act is a series of interconnected revue sketches often widely funny and occasionally disturbingly serious as he attempts to rectify his error by replacing Marcus with Asian B.D. Wong. With the exception of Azar and Bandu, the other five actors play multiple rapid-fire roles. It is the superb cast of Tina Chillip, Robert Ernst, Francis Jue, Amy Resnick and Howard Swain who give strength to weakish jokes while giving superb performances that keep act one from being mishmash.

To the consternation of DHH disillusioned Marcus decides to travel to China where he finds a mythical village where he acquires an Asian mentality, returns to America becoming a leading “Asian” actor espousing Asian rights. The second act is a complete surprise. Whereas act one deals mostly with the inequities in the theatre, in act two serious comedy replaces farce and Hwang explores social injustice and he, through the words of Marcus, concludes that it is the inner persona, not the visible exterior that defines who we are.

Without detracting from any of the actors, special accolades belong to local favorite

Francis Jue who, amongst other roles, doubles as HYH, David’s banker father who is a true lover of the American Dream. He shared those accolades with the self-effacing stage presence of Thomas Azar especially when, accepting the fact that he is a creation of Hwang’s fertile imagination, asks “Write me a happy ending.”

Running time two hours and 15 minutes.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com