Tony Award-winner David Henry Hwang, author of ?M. Butterfly,? to speak at Loyola

New Orleans, LA (PRWEB) November 01, 2012

Tony Award-winner David Henry Hwang, best known as the author of ?M. Butterfly? and ?Chinglish,? will offer two presentations at Loyola University New Orleans Monday, Nov. 5 in Nunemaker Auditorium in Monroe Hall. Both events are free and open to the public.

Hwang?s Loyola appearances come just two months after receiving the $ 200,000 Steinberg award for playwriting, theater?s most generous prize, for 32 years of provocative satires and dramas that brought more Asian and Asian-American characters to Broadway and other stages.

At 5 p.m., David Henry Hwang will participate in an hour-long, on-stage interview about his experiences working with some of the most talented composers and conductors of the 21st century. The forum, which is part of the ?Get Inforumed? speaker series in the Department of Music Industry Studies, will be streamed live online.

At 7 p.m., he will shift gears to lead a multidisciplinary panel lecture. He?ll discuss both the creative license and the commercial parameters afforded by writing for public settings, and his collaborations with composers. While at Loyola, Hwang will also lead a 75-minute workshop for students in Loyola?s Department of Theatre Arts and Dance.

Throughout his career, David Henry Hwang has explored the complexities of forging Eastern and Western cultures in contemporary America. In 2011, Time Magazine named his play ?Chinglish? one of the top 10 plays and musicals of the year. ?M. Butterfly,? often cited as his most notable work, ran for two years on Broadway and won the 1988 Tony, Drama Desk, John Gassner and Outer Critics Circle Awards. It was also a finalist for the 1989 Pulitzer Prize. The play enjoyed a one-year run on London?s West End and has been produced in more than 40 countries to date.

David Henry Hwang wrote the libretto to Howard Shore's opera ?The Fly,? based on David Cronenberg's 1986 horror film of the same name. The opera premiered in 2008 at the Th