Diversity in Contemporary Theatre: Yellow Face

Name: Professor’s name: Course: Date: Diversity in Contemporary Theatre; Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang. Playwrights play the most significant role amongst the diverse artistic presence of a theatre as they often form the basis upon which the wide range of artists performs their distinct functions. David Henry Hwang serves such purpose in employing diverse techniques in impacting societal change in perception of the issue of racial discrimination or misrepresentation in the American society. The socio-political, and economic constructs of the American society played a significant role in determining various aspects of the community in the early 1990’s. The issue of racial relations with respect to the theatre and its diverse artistic works is central to Hwang’s career as a playwright. The Tony Award-winning playwright through takes a satirical approach in faulting the existing race relations by challenging the audience to review their racial identities while also shedding light on the biases within the American society directed towards the minority groups that are foreign to the American cultural heritage. Theatrical works form an integral part of the society owing to their wide range of roles, purpose, or service it delivers to its equally diverse audience. One of the most common purposes it serves to the society is offering a source of pastime activity in the form of entertainment to which people attend such events to have or spend quality time (Cohen). People have an opportunity to spend their free time in structural outline adopted by the playwright in delivering their artistic works. Artistic works or plays displayed through the theatre can also double as social events through which cultural traditions of a particular community or society are portrayed with the goal of reviewing, enlightening, or engaging the perception of its members on their various traditional or cultural aspects. Perhaps of utmost importance is the fact that staged plays or dramas are capable of informing or elaborating contentious issues within the society in a simple and clear manner that is easy to comprehend for all the members of the society irrespective of their social, economic, or political status (Cohen). Writing a play is usually the first stage of a playwright’s intense career and demands a comprehensive engagement with the individual’s creative mind to come up with an artistic work that will have one or all of the outlined purposes of a drama (Cohen). A common source for a playwright’s ideas for a play includes their personal life experiences from which they highlight real issues affecting the community within which they live as being the thematic standpoints for their works. Hwang is one such artist who makes a name for himself as a playwright by relating to his frustrations with his futile efforts in championing for more recognition of actors and artists of Asian origin in the American theatre industry through one of his great works, Yellow Face (Lee). The eldest of three children was in Los Angeles, California in the year 1957 graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979 from Stanford after which he attended the Drama School in Yale to advance his knowledge by studying the history of theatre. It was during his time at Stanfor...