Honored playwright David Henry Hwang to lecture

Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang will give a public lecture at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12 at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center.

He will be in residence in the Quad-Cities as part of the 2019-2020 Visiting Artist Series from Quad City Arts. 

A book signing will be held after the lecture.

Tickets are $15, or $10 for all students, through the Augustana College Ticket Office.

Hwang is most famous for writing “M. Butterfly” (about the relationship between a French diplomat and a Peking opera singer), which premiered on Broadway in 1988 and won the Tony Award for Best Play. The play also won the Drama Desk Award, John Gassner Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

According to Opera News, Hwang is America's most produced living opera librettist.

The Chinese-American playwright has been described by the New York Times as "a true original," and by Time Magazine as "the first important dramatist of American public life since Arthur Miller.”

He earned Tony nominations for co-writing the book for the Elton John musical “Aida” (based on the Verdi opera), which premiered in 2000, and for a 2002 radical revision of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical “Flower Drum Song.”

Hwang also wrote the book for Disney's “Tarzan,” with songs by Phil Collins, and is recognized as America's most-produced living opera librettist. His works include four pieces with composer Philip Glass. For a complete list of the Visiting Artist Series next season, go to quadcityarts.com/vas.