ment Cases.Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum As-
sociates, 2002.
Stein, Laura.Speech Rights in America: The First Amend-
ment, Democracy, and the Media. Urbana: University
of Illinois Press, 2006.
Timothy L. Hall
See also Falwell, Jerry; Flynt, Larry; Supreme Court
decisions.
Hwang, David Henry.
Identification Chinese American playwright,
screenwriter, and librettist
Born August 11, 1957; Los Angeles, California
Hwang became one of the most significant Asian American
voices in the theater, as he explored the distinctive experience
of Chinese Americans and produced groundbreaking work
at the intersection of experimental and mainstream theater.
David Henry Hwang received a B.A. in English
from Stanford University in 1978 and attended the
Yale University School of Drama from 1980 to 1981.
Hwang’s first play,F.O.B.(1978), was initially pro-
duced at Stanford, but subsequently an Off-Broadway
production won an Obie Award in 1980.F.O.B., whose
title is an acronym for “fresh off the boat,” reveals an
immigrant’s struggle to learn new customs without
abandoning his cultural heritage. This theme recurred
in several of Hwang’s other plays, includingThe Dance
of the Railroad(1981),Family Devotions(1981),The
House of Sleeping Beauties(1983),The Sound of a Voice
(1983),As the Crow Flies(1986), andMy American Son
(1987). These works earned ample recognition for
Hwang, including a Rockefeller Fellowship (1983), a
Guggenheim Fellowship (1984), and a National En-
dowment for the Arts Fellowship (1985).
Hwang’s most influential play of the decade was
M. Butterfly, which was produced on Broadway in
- The play won the Outer Critics Circle Award,
the Drama Desk Award, and the Tony Award. The
play was based on an article inThe New York Times
(May 11, 1986) that reported on a French diplomat
in China whose twenty-year relationship with a Chi-
nese opera singer ended following his conviction in
Paris for espionage. The French diplomat had mis-
taken the male opera singer for a woman and be-
lieved that the singer gave birth to a child fathered
by the diplomat. The singer had been cooperating
with the Chinese authorities and had obtained con-
fidential diplomatic information from the diplomat
and delivered it to the Chinese.
With this fantastic yet historical basis,M. Butterfly
also borrowed from Giacomo Puccini’sMadama But-
terfly(1905;Madame Butterfly). Musical themes from
that opera heighten the effect of Hwang’s play, and
the story of Pinkerton’s betrayal of Cio-Cio-San in
Madame Butterflyunderlies Hwang’s story of betrayal
involving Gallimard and Song. From the perspective
of the late 1980’s, members of Hwang’s audience
can see the effects of the Cultural Revolution in
China; the diplomatic tensions among the United
States, France, and China during the Vietnam War;
the misunderstandings and stereotypical impressions
that contributed to the West’s view of the East; and
the dangers of basing a love relationship on fantasy
rather than reality.Impact M. Butterflywas one of the major plays of
the late twentieth century, and it elevated the al-
ready successful Hwang to the heights of the Ameri-
can theater. The play was at once an emotionally en-The Eighties in America Hwang, David Henry 499
David Henry Hwang.