Chinglish (play)

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Play by David Henry Hwang

title: "Chinglish (play)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2011-plays", "plays-by-david-henry-hwang", "broadway-plays", "plays-set-in-china", "plays-about-race-and-ethnicity"] description: "Play by David Henry Hwang" topic_path: "geography/china" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinglish_(play)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Play by David Henry Hwang ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox play"]

FieldValue
nameChinglish
imagechinglish2.png
captionOriginal Broadway poster
writerDavid Henry Hwang
directorLeigh Silverman
premiereJune 18, 2011
placeGoodman Theatre
Chicago, Illinois
orig_langEnglish, Mandarin
genreComedy
webhttp://chinglishbroadway.com/
::

::callout[type=note] the play ::

| name = Chinglish | image = chinglish2.png | caption = Original Broadway poster | writer = David Henry Hwang | director = Leigh Silverman | premiere = June 18, 2011 | place = Goodman Theatre Chicago, Illinois | orig_lang = English, Mandarin | subject = | genre = Comedy | web = http://chinglishbroadway.com/

Chinglish is a play by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang. It is a comedy about an American businessman desperate to launch a new enterprise in China, which opened on Broadway in 2011 with direction by Leigh Silverman.

Production history

Chinglish premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, where it ran from June 18, 2011, until July 31, 2011. This was Hwang's second collaboration with director Leigh Silverman, following Yellow Face at the Center Theater Group and The Public Theater.

::quote

Few plays in recent years have delighted me as much as Chinglish. With a career spanning more than three decades and a canon that incorporates an array of genres, David is one of the luminaries of contemporary American theater. I have admired his work since long before our collaboration on the Broadway musical Aida, and it is a thrill to welcome him to the Goodman for the first time.

-Robert Falls, Goodman Theatre Artistic Director ::

The play premiered on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre on October 11, 2011 (previews), officially on October 27, 2011. Directed by Leigh Silverman, the cast featured Gary Wilmes, Jennifer Lim, Angela Lin, Christine Lin, Stephen Pucci, Johnny Wu and Larry Lei Zhang. The play was performed in English and Mandarin (with projected English supertitles). The sets were by David Korins, costumes by Anita Yavich, lighting by Brian MacDevitt, sound by Darron L. West and projections by Jeff Sugg and Shawn Duan.

Plot

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/ChinglishBroadway.jpg" caption="archivedate=2011-10-14 }}" alt="Chinglish on Broadway"] ::

::quote

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. Chinglish was born from the many visits I’ve made to China over the past five or six 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 I thought of writing this play."

-David Henry Hwang, Playwright ::

Characters and Broadway cast

Source: Internet Broadway Database

  • Daniel Cavanaugh () - Gary Wilmes
  • Xi Yan () - Jennifer Lim
  • Miss Qian () / Prosecutor Li () - Angela Lin
  • Miss Zhao () - Christine Lin
  • Peter Timms () - Stephen Pucci
  • Bing () / Judge Xu Geming () - Johnny Wu
  • Minister Cai Guoliang () - Larry Lei Zhang

Notable productions

Berkeley Repertory Theater, South Coast Repertory and Hong Kong Arts Festival cast

  • Daniel Cavanaugh - Alex Moggridge
  • Xi Yan - Michelle Krusiec
  • Miss Qian / Prosecutor Li - Celeste Den
  • Miss Zhao - Vivian Chiu
  • Peter Timms - Brian Nishii
  • Bing / Judge Xu Geming - Austin Ku
  • Minister Cai Guoliang - Larry Lei Zhang (Berkeley) / Raymond Ma (South Coast Repertory)

Portland Center Stage, Syracuse stage cast

  • Daniel Cavanaugh - Peter O'Connor
  • Xi Yan - Tina Chilip
  • Hotel Manager/Prosecutor Li - Lily Tung Crystal
  • Peter Timms - Jeff Locker
  • Miss Qian / Miss Zhao - Rachel Lu
  • Bing / Judge Xu Geming - Yuekun Wu
  • Minister Cai Guoliang - Jian Xin

[[East West Players]], Los Angeles Cast (September/October & December 2015)

  • Daniel Cavanaugh - Matthew Jaeger
  • Xi Yan - Kara Wang
  • Peter Timms - Jeff Locker
  • Minister Cai Guoliang - Ben Wang
  • Miss Qian / Prosecutor Li - Leann Lei
  • Bing / Judge Xu Geming - Ewan Chung
  • Miss Zhao - Joy Yao Directed by Jeff Liu

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/DAVIDHENRYHWANG1979.jpg" caption="Playwright David Henry Hwang"] ::

Critical reception

The production earned glowing praise from the Chicago Tribune, which wrote: "Four stars! In Hwang's hilarious Chinglish, the Chinese tiger roars, American business trembles. Laughs and sexual pleasure in translation. A shrewd, timely and razor sharp comedy! David Henry Hwang's best work since M. Butterfly. The Chicago Sun-Times judged the piece "One of the funniest plays in memory. ... Chinglish has characters not clichés - the Chinese aren't worker bees, the American isn't an arrogant idiot.

The New York staging was called: "Fresh, energetic and unlike anything else on Broadway. Chinglish is a thoughtful, funny and poignant piece in which, miraculously, nothing gets lost in translation." Bloomberg termed it "A lethal comedy about business, sex and the failure to communicate that bristles with intelligence." Time magazine ranked the play as its #3 choice among all theatre productions in 2011.

Of the Los Angeles show, the Los Angeles Times dubbed Chinglish a Critic's Choice and said: "This production surpasses the South Coast Repertory-Berkeley Repertory production – itself no slouch...It’s taken a long time for this 2011 play to reach L.A., but thank goodness it got here in such excellent shape. (The Chinese-screen set, the costumes and lights are wonderful too, and East West [Players] has taken particular care with the Mandarin; each of its speakers was either born in China or immersed in the language.)."

Awards and nominations

The Chicago production was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Awards:

  • Best Production - Chinglish
  • Director - Leigh Silverman
  • Actress in a Principal Role - Jennifer Lim
  • New Work - David Henry Hwang - (WON)
  • Scenic Design - David Korins - (WON)

The Broadway production was nominated for three Drama Desk Awards:

  • 2012 Outstanding Play
  • 2012 Outstanding Actress in a Play (Jennifer Lim)
  • 2012 Outstanding Set Design (David Korins)

Notes

References

  1. Jones, Kenneth. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/broadway-bound-chinglish-extends-at-chicagos-goodman-180673# "Broadway-Bound 'Chinglish' Extends at Chicago's Goodman"] Playbill, July 6, 2011
  2. (May 31, 2011). "World premiere of David Henry Hwang's Sexy New Comedy, CHINGLISH (June 18 - July 24), Completes Goodman Theatre's 'Decade on Dearborn' Celebratory Season.". Broadway's Best Shows.
  3. [http://www.theatreinchicago.com/news.php?articleID=568 "Goodman Theatre Announces World Premiere of 'Chinglish'"] theatreinchicago.com, accessed October 11, 2015
  4. Jones, Kenneth. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/west-meets-east-david-henry-hwangs-chinglish-opens-on-broadway-183953# "West Meets East: David Henry Hwang's 'Chinglish' Opens on Broadway"] Playbill, October 27, 2011
  5. Itzkoff, Dave. (June 28, 2011). "By Way of Chicago, David Henry Hwang Comedy 'Chinglish' Will Come to Broadway". The New York Times.
  6. (September 19, 2011). "Chinglish on Broadway". Broadway's Best Shows.
  7. [http://ibdb.com/Production/View/490700 "'Chinglish' Broadway Production, Cast and Creatives"] ibdb.com, accessed October 10, 2015
  8. "[https://www.hk.artsfestival.org/store/house-programme/2013/Chinglish/HKAF2013_HP_Chinglish_web.pdf 41st Hong Kong Arts Festival Presents Chinglish]." ([https://www.webcitation.org/6GhOb2rvA?url=http://www.hk.artsfestival.org/sites/default/files/2013_HP/HKAF2013_HP_Chinglish_web.pdf Archive]) [[Hong Kong Arts Festival]]. p. 11. Retrieved on May 17, 2013.
  9. Jones, Chris. (June 27, 2011). "In Hwang's hilarious 'Chinglish,' the Chinese tiger roars, American business trembles". Chicago Tribune.
  10. Steinberg, Neil. (June 28, 2011). "Blagojevich tragedy not as alien as we might like". Chicago Sun-Times.
  11. Kennedy, Mark. (August 2024). "'Chinglish' jumps into Sino-American culture gap".
  12. (October 29, 2011). "Chinese Call Shots in Business, Sex Comedy 'Chinglish': Review". Bloomberg.
  13. Zoglin, Richard. "The Best of 2011: Theater", ''Time'' magazine, December 19, 2011 issue, p. 77
  14. Miller, Daryl. (September 30, 2015). "Each person is a mystery in East West Players' lively 'Chinglish'". Los Angeles Times.
  15. (August 31, 2011). "Jeff 2011 Equity Awards Announced". Jeff Awards.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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