Sometimes a work can take hold of you and never let you go. All you want to do is return to it. For Leigh Silverman, that work was David Henry Hwang’s play Yellow Face which she directed at the Public Theater in 2007.
Yellow Face was inspired, in part, by the decision to cast white actor, Jonathan Pryce, to play a French Vietnamese brothel owner in Miss Saigon on Broadway. Pryce had already played the role in the West End and had earned an Oliver award. Yellow face refers to the long history of white actors wearing makeup to portray Asian characters.
After Hwang wrote to Actors’ Equity to protest the casting, he was vilified by producers, critics and many in the theater community. Hwang saw that the issues stretched further than just Miss. Saigon. And Yellow Face delved into questions about race, identity, history and family.
Yellow Face, which became a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won an Obie Award, centers around a playwright, DHH, who after fighting against yellow face casting ends up placing a white actor in his own play.
After a successful run at the Public Theater, Silverman and Hwang worked on eight more projects. “David and I have worked together so much and so deeply, our collaboration has been a tent pole of my career,” says Silverman.
Yellow Face always remained on the front burner for Silverman who is a two-time Tony nominee and recently directed Suffs on Broadway. “It was always the play I was desperate to come back to and get another crack at it,” says Silverman. “During the Pandemic, when we were all in lockdown, I said to David that one of the things I was most sad about was that there would be a future of people who would never get to see Yellow Face on stage.”
They pitched and did an audio version of Yellow Face for Audible with Daniel Dae Kim starring as playwright DHH. “We laughed and laughed and I thought, this is the time for the piece,” says Silverman.
Presented by Roundabout Theatre Company, Yellow Face is now playing on Broadway at Todd Haimes Theatre. In addition to Kim, the play stars Kevin Del Aguila, Ryan Eggold, Francis Jue, Marinda Anderson, Greg Keller and Shannon Tyo.
“The play has only gotten funnier and more relevant because people understand the issues of identity and representation. What felt like a niche experience 17 years ago is something theater goers really understand now,” says Silverman. “It really shows how ahead of the curve David was. This is a sophisticated play that was ahead of its time. And it’s incredibly gratifying to have audiences finally catch up to him and appreciate the play for the masterpiece it is.
Jeryl Brunner: How do you feel the play, Yellow Face, has evolved?
Leigh Silverman: I believe people now understand what is embedded in the play, which is that there’s a straight line from dehumanizing portrayals of Asian Americans to anti-Asian hate crimes. There is a real understanding of how Yellow Face, and other kinds of dehumanizing portrayals of Asian Americans, have led to all kinds of anti-Asian hate. That line, which has always been in the play, was not as clear to audiences 17 years ago.
Also, coming out of Covid-19, we have lived through major spikes of hate crimes against the Asian American community. And David himself was the victim of a hate crime, which was something that he wrote about in the show Soft Power.
Brunner: And people felt differently about representation on stage 15 years ago.
Silverman: Our understanding of why representation matters has deepened, matured and maybe evolved as a culture. The conversation that is happening in the play about why Jonathan Pryce maybe shouldn’t play the Eurasian pimp in Miss. Saigon is something that people are more attuned to. They care more about it. 17 years ago, people were sort of like, I don’t get it. What’s the problem?
Brunner: Can you talk about the casting in this version of Yellow Face?
Silverman: In the first iteration of the play we had white people and Asian Americans. We felt very strongly in this new incarnation to not have it be a binary world. One of the things that David is exploring is, what is yellow face? And is it okay to have people of color in the company play Asian Americans? For example, Marinda Anderson plays David’s mother. Is that okay? And if so, why or why not? That is one of the questions that we’re asking the audience to think about in relationship to representation on stage.
At this point audiences, mostly thanks to Hamilton, are used to people of color playing white people. We do plenty of that in Yellow Face. David was looking to push the question of who can play who. Essentially, the central inciting incident of the show is a casting question. So we wanted to carry that form and content of the play into our own decisions about the show. We also do that across gender.
Brunner: What qualities does David Henry Hwang have that you adore? And what might people find surprising about him?
Silverman: David is invested in community. He is an amazing teacher and has been running the playwriting program at Columbia University School of the Arts. He cares a lot about mentorship.
What is most surprising about David is that he’s willing to make fun of himself. He puts himself in Yellow Face as the butt of almost every single joke. It takes a terrific sense of humor and act of generosity to put yourself into a play and be the butt of all the jokes. In a way he is letting everyone else off the hook. Not only does that work so well in the play, but it speaks to who David is and his character.