I felt pretty good growing up. I didn’t feel a lot of prejudice or racism. But I do remember, if there was going to be a movie or a television show with Asian characters, I would go out of my way to avoid them, because they portrayed all Asians as either ridiculously good or ridiculously bad; you know, the whole Charlie Chan-Fu Manchu thing. David Henry Hwang Read Quote
There is something very unique in American iconography about this notion of the pursuit of happiness. David Henry Hwang Read Quote
We all deal with failure. If you’re lucky to have a long career, it’s part of the experience. David Henry Hwang Read Quote
For a long time, it was hard for me to get my work done in Chicago. Silk Road gave me opportunities to do shows like ‘Golden Child’ – shows that nobody else seemed interested in. And they bring an artistic integrity to the work that matches anything you’ll find at a bigger theatre. David Henry Hwang Read Quote
I visited a new cultural center in Shanghai in 2005 that was pretty much perfect, except for the really badly translated Chinglish signs: a handicapped restroom that said ‘Deformed Man’s Toilet,’ that kind of thing. David Henry Hwang Read Quote
I think that plays are probably the most personal, because it’s just me in charge, but sometimes it’s just really – I think that there’s honor in being a good artist, and there’s honor in being a good ‘craftsperson.’ David Henry Hwang Read Quote
With a musical, you kind of have to do a mind-meld with the book-writer, the lyricist, the composer, the director – sometimes the producer. I think that’s a reason why musicals are the hardest form. David Henry Hwang Read Quote
If I do a play, it’s my vision, and everybody else is working on the production to support that. If I do an opera, I feel like part of my job is to support that composer, to try and create something that allows the composer to do his or her best work. In movies, it’s usually the director. David Henry Hwang Read Quote
