Yellow face

David Henry Hwang writes himself into this play as a character, using a faux-documentary format to examine his own career. The story turns on two episodes: the backlash against casting a non-Asian actor in a major Asian role in a Broadway musical, and a federal case, which he sees as racially driven, against his father. Through these events the play questions what it means to be Asian American and how the meaning of "American" has shifted over time.