Chinglish to play at Longacre from 11 Oct 2011

The Broadway premiere of Chinglish, the new comedy by Tony Award-winning and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang ('M. Butterfly),' directed by Leigh Silverman, will begin performances at the Longacre Theatre from 11 Oct 2011.

The opening date and casting will be announced in the coming weeks.

Chinglish is about the unpredictable complications that ensue when an American businessman, despite his self-possessed cultural ignorance, seeks to expand his market by forging a relationship with government officials in a major Chinese city. Although he has hired an Australian entrepreneur who has lived in China to assist him, he soon finds that the complexities of such a venture far outstrip the expected differences in language, customs and manners - and calls into questions even the most basic assumptions of human conduct.

Playwright David Henry Hwang said, "The U.S. and China are at a critical moment in history—each nation is deeply interested in, but knows very little about, the other. Chinglish was born from the many visits I've made to China over the past five or six years to witness the exciting changes there. During one visit, I toured a new arts center where everything was first-rate—except for the ridiculously translated English signs. It was at that moment that I thought of writing this play."

The world premiere of Chinglish recently played at the Goodman Theatre where it opened on 27 Jun 2011, following previews from 18 Jun 2011, and ran through to 24 Jul 2011.

The design team will feature sets by David Korins, costumes by Anita Yavich and lighting by Brian MacDevitt.

The Goodman Theatre production, also directed by Leigh Silverman, starred Jennifer Lim, Angela Lin, Christine Lin, Stephen Pucci, James Waterston, Johnny Wu and Larry Zhang.

Chinglish opened to mostly excellent reviews: "Splendidly savvy and entertaining new work" (Variety); "Shrewd, timely and razor-sharp comedy" (Chicago Trubine); "Very Funny and compelling (Time Out Chicago); "One of the funniest plays in memory" (Chicago Sun-Times) and "Recommended! An endless supply of laughs" (New City).

The Broadway production will be produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Roy Gottlieb, Barry & Carole Kaye and David and Barbara Stoller in association with Goodman Theatre, and has been developed in association with The Public Theater.