Friday, October 1, 2010

M. BUTTERFLY: How Could This Be?

Kyle Ryan and Lincoln Mitchell in the HSU production of M. Butterfly.

How could this be?

An apparently worldly French diplomat has a love affair with his “perfect woman,” a Chinese opera star. The affair goes on for some twenty years, from the 1960s into the 1980s, and in all that time the diplomat never realizes that his beloved is in fact a man.

“How could this be?” asks director Michael Thomas, “That’s the question that drew me into this play, and it’s the question that brings everyone into it. As the premise for a play this is interesting enough—but it is based on a true story. So this play is intriguing from the first moment, and that question carries us through the whole show: how could this be?”

The play is M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, a Tony Award winner that has become an American classic since its epic Broadway run from 1988 to 1990.

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