David Henry Hwang Will Succeed William Ivey Long As Chair of the American Theatre Wing

Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang has been elected the Chair of the American Theatre Wing. Hwang joined the institution's board in 2009 and will succeed six-time Tony-winning costume designer William Ivey Long, who has held the position for four years; Long will maintain an active role as the Immediate Past Chair. In addition to the new Chair, the Wing welcomes new appointees to the board, including 2016 Tony nominees Sergio Trujillo and Liesl Tommy, Robyn Coles, Alia Jones-Harvey, Lucy Liu, Patti LuPone, Charles Tolbert and Lia Vollack.

Hwang took home the 1988 Tony Award for M. Butterfly and received nominations for the 2002 revival of Flower Drum Song and Golden Child. He is a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. His work also includes the plays Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, The Dance and the Railroad and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Aida and Disney’s Tarzan. He is also America’s most-produced living opera librettist, and a writer/producer for the Golden Globe-winning TV series The Affair. Hwang was recently the Residency One Playwright at New York’s Signature Theatre and currently serves as Head of Playwriting at Columbia University School of the Arts.

The American Theatre Wing is a not-for-profit organization originally set up as part of the World War II Allied Relief Fund. Though founders of the Tony Awards, the Wing's reach extends beyond Broadway and New York; the Wing develops the next generation of theater professionals through the SpringboardNYC and Theatre Intern Network programs, incubates innovative theater across the country through the National Theatre Company Grants, fosters the song of American theater through the Jonathan Larson Grants, honors the best in New York theatrical design with the Henry Hewes Design Award and illuminates the creative process through the Working in the Theatre program and media archive.