HIGHLIGHTED PLAY

TRYING TO FIND CHINATOWN

Synopsis

Trying to Find Chinatown is about a chance encounter between an Asian-looking street musician, Ronnie, and a Caucasian Midwesterner, Benjamin who believes himself as a Chinese-American. The story happens on a corner of Lower East Side of New York City. Benjamin believes he is a Chinese American because he was adopted by a Chinese-American family. He took Asian-American studies at University of Wisconsin to explore his roots. Ronnie is a violinist who identifies himself by his profession rather than his genetic Asian heritage. He embraces the heritage of American music but knows little about the history of the culture of his ancestors.

While Benjamin is taking his pilgrimage to his father’s birthplace in New York Chinatown, he stops to ask Ronnie, for directions. Their conversation flares after Benjamin compliments Ronnie for playing the “fiddle” and Ronnie is offended by his word choice. Benjamin accused Ronnie of being assimilated and hating himself. Ronnie accused Benjamin of racial profiling. Neither of them can agree with each other on the ways they identify themselves. Ronnie insists that ethnicity does not equal identity, but Benjamin insist that Ronnie should embrace the culture of his ancestors, though Benjamin refuses to let his genetics define his culture. In the end, Benjamin finds the address in Chinatown without Ronnie’s help. Ronnie continues to play the violin on the street.

MAJOR THEMES

· Whether identity is determined by nature or nurture?

· What determine one’s self-identity?

ACTIVITY

One of the major themes of Trying to Find Chinatown is “Identity”—how we identify ourselves and how we are constantly being identified by others. We could have an “identity” conversation by introducing this play to various classes, like cultural studies, performance studies, multicultural education, intersectionality, political identity, Asian American history, Asian American theatre and so on—for various educational purposes. The “identity” topic rendered by this play is beyond rich to explore. Other than using this play to transfer knowledge, the conversations about identity could bring the participants a personal and self-exploring opportunity and critical reflections on identity that can be therapeutic and self-developing. We could invite students to share their personal experiences and oppressions related to Ronnie’s or Benjamin’s circumstances to further explore interracial relationships. Participants can create art works to embrace their identities or challenge their limited perspectives. Therefore, we can further develop the conversation of identity to whether identity is determined by race or ethnicity or something else. From there, we could confront the roots of our humanity through confronting our identity.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever been to New York Chinatown? What did you see, smell and hear?
2. What are the oppressions (personal, institutional, societal/cultural) of the circumstance in Trying to Find Chinatown?
3. Do you know anyone who is similar to Ronnie or Benjamin in your personal life? After reading Trying to Find Chinatown, what would you like to tell them?
4. In Hwang’s life, there are different phrases—assimilationist, isolationist-nationalist, and multiculturalist (Liu, 2002, p. 129). Based on your understanding on these terms, could you think of your similar personal experiences and discuss how you transformed from one phrase to another?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

“As Hwang started unpacking cartons of books, in shorts, a T-shirt and a pair of banged-up Ugg slippers, I could feel how skittish he was. He became famous at such a young age that his public persona — polite, respectful, brilliant yet low-key as he riffs eloquently on the issues of the day — developed far more quickly than his private persona — polite, respectful and squirmy at the prospect of self-revelation.” (Click here)

“In a funny way, the time that I realized I was going to be a writer for the rest of my life was the first time I had a failure. Because that’s easy to keep writing when things are going well. But it’s important to learn failures. If we don’t fail, we don’t work hard enough.” (Click here)

AWARD

1981—OBIE Award for Best New American Play (F.O.B.)

1982—Drama Desk Nomination and Pulitzer finalist (The Dance and the Railroad)

1984—Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US & Canada

1988—Tony Award for Best Play (M. Butterfly)

1988—Drama Desk for Outstanding Play (M. Butterfly)

1988—Outer Circle Awards (M. Butterfly)

1988—Pulitzer Prize finalist (M. Butterfly)

1997—OBIE Award for Playwriting (Golden Child)

2002—Tony Award for Best Book of Musical nominee (Flower Drum Song)

2008—OBIE Award for Playwriting (Yellow Face)

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RELATED SOURCES

• Dabney, K. M. (2013). Oral Performance/Aural Traditions: Cultural Identity in David Henry Hwang’s Trying to Find Chinatown. Retrieved from here
• Gale, Cengage learning. (2012). A study guide for David Henry Hwang’s “Trying to Find Chinatown.” Retrieved from here
• Gardella, H. (2013, November 21). Race, ethnicity, and identity in "Trying to Find Chinatown.” The philosopher’s fortress. Retrieved from here
• Hwang, D. (1989). Evolving a multicultural tradition. MELUS, 16(3), 16-19. Retrieved from here
• Kim, E. (1987). Defining Asian American realities through literature. Cultural Critique, (6), 87-111. Retrieved from here
• Liu, M. X. (2002). David Henry Hwang. Asian American playwrights: A bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook. 126-144. Retrieved from here
• Moy, J. S. (1995). Marginal sights: Staging the Chinese in America. Asian Theatre Journal, 12(1), 201-204. Retrieved from here
• Playwrights. (2017). David Henry Hwang. Playwright bio. Retrieved from here
• Skloot, R. (1990). Breaking the butterfly: The politics of David Henry Hwang. Modern Drama. 33(1). 59-66. Retrieved from here
• Witchel, A. (2012, November 7). The man who can make Bruce Lee talk. The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from here

Web page compiled by Candice Ding (2017)