ThoughtGallery.org > “The King and I” Meets “Soft Power”

“The King and I” Meets “Soft Power”

Tony Award-winning theater artists director Bartlett Sher and playwright David Henry Hwang engage in a conversation on the current state of American musical theater, as it wrestles with becoming more sensitive and inclusive, with focus on Asian-themed musicals. The inspiration of Hwang’s new musical Soft Power by Sher’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I will serve as the basis for discussion of Asian representation in musical theater history, as it informs our present. Segueing into how to improve upon the status quo, the panel will examine Sher and Hwang’s distinctive approaches, illuminate points of contrast and overlap, and consider their artistic work and goals as complementary. The conversation will be moderated by Karen Shimakawa, NYU Tisch Associate Professor of Performance Studies.

This program is part of the series Asian Americans in Theatre: Art and Activism co-presented with the Barnard College Department of Theatre, Stages of Inquiry.

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Speakers:

David Henry Hwang’s stage works include the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Aida (co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival) and Disney’s Tarzan. Hwang is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee, a three-time OBIE Award winner, and a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In addition, Yellow Face was recently named one of the best American plays of the past 25 years by the New York Times. Hwang is America’s most-produced living opera librettist, whose works have been honored with two Grammy Awards, and he co-wrote the Gold Record “Solo” with the late pop icon Prince. Since 2015, he has been a Writer and Consulting Producer for the Golden Globe-winning television series The Affair, currently shooting its fifth season. His screenplays include Possession, M. Butterfly, and Golden Gate.

Bartlett Sher is a director of theater and opera whose most recent Broadway credits include To Kill a Mockingbird at the Shubert Theatre and Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady at the Beaumont Theatre. He is also Resident Director at Lincoln Center Theater, where he won a Tony Award for his production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific (which he also directed in London and Australia); and was nominated for Tony Awards for his LCT productions of My Fair Lady, Oslo (2017 Tony Award for Best Play, Obie Award, also National Theatre, London), Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I (also London), Golden Boy, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Awake and Sing!, and The Light in the Piazza.

Karen Shimakawa is an Associate Professor of Performance Studies and Co-Associate Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and an instructor in the NYU Law School. Her research focuses on Asian American performance, critical race theory, and aesthetics. Her current project is on the aesthetics and politics of discomfort in contemporary performance.











When: Tue., Feb. 5, 2019 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Where: Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Ave.
212-288-6400
Price: $20 Members; $22 Students/Seniors; $25 Nonmembers
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Tony Award-winning theater artists director Bartlett Sher and playwright David Henry Hwang engage in a conversation on the current state of American musical theater, as it wrestles with becoming more sensitive and inclusive, with focus on Asian-themed musicals. The inspiration of Hwang’s new musical Soft Power by Sher’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I will serve as the basis for discussion of Asian representation in musical theater history, as it informs our present. Segueing into how to improve upon the status quo, the panel will examine Sher and Hwang’s distinctive approaches, illuminate points of contrast and overlap, and consider their artistic work and goals as complementary. The conversation will be moderated by Karen Shimakawa, NYU Tisch Associate Professor of Performance Studies.

This program is part of the series Asian Americans in Theatre: Art and Activism co-presented with the Barnard College Department of Theatre, Stages of Inquiry.

—
Speakers:

David Henry Hwang’s stage works include the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Aida (co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival) and Disney’s Tarzan. Hwang is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee, a three-time OBIE Award winner, and a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In addition, Yellow Face was recently named one of the best American plays of the past 25 years by the New York Times. Hwang is America’s most-produced living opera librettist, whose works have been honored with two Grammy Awards, and he co-wrote the Gold Record “Solo” with the late pop icon Prince. Since 2015, he has been a Writer and Consulting Producer for the Golden Globe-winning television series The Affair, currently shooting its fifth season. His screenplays include Possession, M. Butterfly, and Golden Gate.

Bartlett Sher is a director of theater and opera whose most recent Broadway credits include To Kill a Mockingbird at the Shubert Theatre and Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady at the Beaumont Theatre. He is also Resident Director at Lincoln Center Theater, where he won a Tony Award for his production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific (which he also directed in London and Australia); and was nominated for Tony Awards for his LCT productions of My Fair Lady, Oslo (2017 Tony Award for Best Play, Obie Award, also National Theatre, London), Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I (also London), Golden Boy, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Awake and Sing!, and The Light in the Piazza.

Karen Shimakawa is an Associate Professor of Performance Studies and Co-Associate Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and an instructor in the NYU Law School. Her research focuses on Asian American performance, critical race theory, and aesthetics. Her current project is on the aesthetics and politics of discomfort in contemporary performance.

Buy tickets/get more info now