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SPECIAL FEATURE COMMENTARY INTERVIEWS RESOURCES BUSINESS INFO
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It's OK to be Wrong and/or It's OK to be Hwang Presentations of idiosyncratic history pageants with a sense of humor and musicality A Creative Soul, Successful Playwright, Screenwriter and Librettist with All the Work He can Handle
LIFE AS A LIBRETTIST US ASIANS: What new creative options did you discover upon your study of Lorca's synthesis of folk and modern traditions in your search of finding additional options of blending elements of Asian traditions together with questions pertaining to modern (and Western) society, such as your Tony Award-winning play M. Butterfly? DAVID HENRY HWANG: I felt I could relate to and feel for Lorca's creative impulses, since I am also drawn towards a synthesis of folk/popular and so-called "high art" elements. US ASIANS: Did the subject of a production based on the life of Lorca fascinated you because of the many parallels between your life and his - such as the following: 1) raised in influential families; 2) mothers were teachers; 3) lived in a culturally diverse regional centers; 4) felt the need to leave during a "coming of age" period; 5) exhibited great musical talent; 6) arranged/composed music; 7) attended prestigious schools to satisfy family expectations; ingrained/embedded passion to write; witness prejudice (i.e. Lorca - expulsion of the Jews and Arabs from Spain) and: 8) passionate about synthesizing various influences in communicating ideas through various media outlets? DAVID HENRY HWANG: Actually, I hadn't thought of those parallels, but they're very interesting. US ASIANS: Did extra preparations and/or considerations were factored in writing your libretto, knowing that Golijov would be translating it into Spanish - especially noting that each language has its own unique rhythms, rhymes and pronunciations?
US ASIANS: Could you, as an accomplished musician, describe the various joys of working with the world of Spanish folk music, tango, rumba, madrigals of Gesualdo, Strauss, klezmer, various Latin American styles/dance forms and flamenco - in addition to Golijov's "modern" technique that fuses these influences with Western concert music? DAVID HENRY HWANG: Perhaps the best way of conveying my love for Golijov's music and fusion of styles is that I regularly listen to this opera on my ipod! US ASIANS: With your creative inclinations to the merging, or pointed diverging, of the political and the personal - which is a key to Lorca's Mariana Pineda - was your participation an exploration part of your on-going search to discover new options to express your various viewpoints/perspectives? DAVID HENRY HWANG: Yes, but my primary reason for taking on the project was that Osvaldo was so charmingly persistent in soliciting my participation, and that I was so knocked-out when I heard the recording of his "Passion." US ASIANS: What was the main draw of participating in a production that dealt with Federico Garcia Lorca - arguably the most important Spanish-language poet and dramatist of recent centuries - and Mariana Pineda - both people who were passionate about their respective causes and ultimately dying for their passions in Ainadamar ("Fountain of Tears" - the place where Lorca was shot)? DAVID HENRY HWANG: I do feel that sometimes my work emphasizes the intellectual over the emotional, and so working in an overtly passionate culture gave me the opportunity to stretch myself in this direction. US ASIANS: Recognizing the lure of Lorca's many passions attracting Osvaldo Golijov and yourself, could a future project of working on a "puppet opera" (like what Lorca and composer Manuel de Falla) did and/or projects that involved cante jondo or "deep song" - the music of the Gypsies that is considered to be the roots of popular flamenco? DAVID HENRY HWANG: I hadn't considered working on a puppet opera, but Osvaldo does incorporate "deep song" into "Ainadamar," and I would love to explore that music further on some future project. US ASIANS: Did you enjoy the creative journey of stripping away the gilding of legend from Lorca's life in order to recapture Federico as an individual, to regain the meaning of that individual's life and death for those, like Margarita, who loved him for the "audience?" DAVID HENRY HWANG: Yes, very much so. One of my thematic preoccupations has been the process by which human beings are objectified, either with the individual's own consent and participation, or against his/her will. His theater
success has provided opportunities to be a screenwriter,
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