Daniel Dae Kim, Ryan Eggold in Yellow Face (Photo: Joan Marcus)

In David Henry Hwang’s play Yellow Face, the playwright is weighing all sorts of contradictions in  fictionalized version of himself and wrestling with generational perspectives on Asian American activism and identity. This 2007 play, revived now in a production directed by Leigh Silverman, is a semi-autobiographical satire but also an interrogation of yellow face casting, Asian American identity, and the oppressive force of white America on Asian Americans.

It is funny and messy, and not without its structural flaws. But the questions it asks of Hwang and the audience make it both a rollicking and thought-provoking evening.  Further, Francis Jue, performing multiple roles, is truly moving.

In the play, DHH (Daniel Dae Kim) is one of the leading voices of the American theater and finds himself at the front lines of the 1990s culture wars fighting against yellow face (the practice of actors of white actors playing Asian or Asian American characters on stage and screen). After getting involved in in the casting controversy with Jonathan Pryce playing an Eurasian pimp in Miss Saigon, DHH moves on to cast his new play Face Value.

They search high and low for “a masculine Asian leading man” for the starring role with no success. In the end, DHH accidentally casts a white guy, Marcus G. Dahlman (Ryan Eggold) in the part. When DHH figures out his mistake, and in an effort to save face, he doubles down and introduces the actor to the Asian community as Siberian Jew, Marcus Gee. Marcus, who is unexpectedly thrust into this situation, ends up thriving with his new found “identity” and becomes an activist in the “community” even though he is not a part of it. It is a farce of uncomfortable cultural appropriation a la Rachel Dolezal except DHH himself created the situation.

This outlandish story line is threaded against a more serious one involving DHH and his father HYH (Francis Jue) who rose from nothing and became a successful banker living his own idea of the American Dream.

The irony of this play finally coming to Broadway with an Asian matinee idol for a lead is not lost on anyone.  It has taken far too long for Asian and Asian American actors to be seen by Hollywood as sexy star material and the stereotypes of Asian men in film and TV persisted (though to note, representation of Asian and Asian American actors on screen in Hollywood material remains small still). And casting challenges remain. For sure, if someone were trying to cast a role of a “masculine Asian leading man,” Daniel Dae Kim would now be high on the list. But his opportunities back in the 1990s ago looked quite different.

The play mixes fact and fiction referencing real events in the 1990s. While some progress may have been made since then, there are still issues raised in this play that remain frustratingly contemporary.

Seeing Frank Chin, famed-Asian American playwright and activist, make a brief appearance in the play also suggests a tacit acknowledgement of Asian American activism and theater going back to an even earlier generation. Though it also left me wondering if the largely white audience at Roundabout would even be familiar with Frank Chin (and his history of scolding other Asian American writers).

The play addresses the generational differences between DHH and his father and how each has fought different battles in America. Their perspectives are often diametrically opposite (dad loves Miss Saigon because it is beautiful and “real”).  Ultimately, the emotional core of the play comes from this evolving dialogue between father and son.

Daniel Dae Kim, Kevin Del Aguila, Marinda Anderson, Francis Jue in Yellow Face (Photo: Joan Marcus)

The play’s form is one of the more challenging elements. It uses a documentary feel—with newspaper clippings read to us and talking heads from the era sharing their thoughts. This comes across smoother on the page than it plays on the stage. Melding the satirical casting story with the family story is not always seamless and can be herky-jerky at times.

The production uses frequent projections of the newspaper clips and the ensemble, in rotating roles, narrates the writings and then performs the roles of the talking heads.  Some of it is played for laughs (and now… Al Gore) but I found the format a little tedious and visually dull.

It’s a huge stage (this is not my first time complaining about the Todd Haimes Theatre with this problem) and small rotating boxes that light up with even smaller newspaper projections felt undersized for the space.

But the production employs color conscious and some gender-blind casting with the multi-role ensemble which further enhances the conceptual undertones in the material.

Take for instance casting Marinda Anderson, a Black woman, to play the actor Jane Krakowski, who turns up in a scene telling Marcus how to perform a version of yourself to get over nervousness in life. Theater has this kind of flexibility.  Importantly, Krakowski’s whiteness is not the point of the brief scene.  In the same breath, there is a reason Marcus Gee wearing a “costume” of Asian American identity is wrong. The context matters and the play helps demonstrate that.

Similarly, Shannon Tyo, an Asian American woman, plays Rodney Hatamiya, an actor who auditions for the role Marcus gets.  When DHH and Rodney are talking about the intentions of the part, DHH says “I’m writing this character who’s insecure, unsure of his masculinity — and who’s going to believe that about you?” Having a  pretty, feminine woman play Rodney brings more attention to this conversation about Asian masculinity.

As excellent an actor as Tyo is (and she has a lot of fun with Rodney), I suspect she is not going up for the same roles based on “physical type” as Daniel Dae Kim. So having her play Rodney gets the audience to step back for a moment and consider what this process of casting does and how it breaks down actors into these types and fulfilling certain perceptions or stereotypes.

The cast is all around solid. Eggold is aww-shucks, affable as Marcus. Greg Keller plays a shifty unnamed New York Times journalist with unsettling ease. Daniel Dae Kim is sarcastic and sour where needed. But the DHH character is maybe the least interesting one on stage being somewhat upstaged by his own discussion and ideas. DHH talks to us a lot but the real self-reflection is the play itself. His character comes out most in relation to others.

Hwang gives the best material to his dad and Jue really runs with it (having also played this role in the NY production back in 2007). His HYH is practical, dreamy, and so in love with America. No American has loved America as much as this guy. He is convinced by his success and ascension in America of the greatness of America. He does not think for a moment think his own government will turn on him.

Jue also plays the role of Wen Ho Lee who is a Taiwanese American nuclear scientist who was accused of being a spy for China in the late 90s.  As Lee, Jue changes his accent and kind of swallows words in a totally different intonation. Lee is careful with the way he speaks in ways the garrulous HYH is not. But in his interrogation, Jue brings out Lee’s pain as much as he is trying to be accommodating under this relentless attack.

While the comedy might get folks in the door, it’s scenes like that with Wen Ho Lee that resonate. The struggle to be “seen” as American for Asian Americans persists. While not everyone will be interrogated by the FBI on this point, it does not make the prejudiced questions any less stinging. Yellow Face addresses that head on and hopefully is able to enlighten those who have never thought the question, “where are you really from?” to be loaded.