''FOB'' is a 1980

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

-winning play by American playwright

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yellow ...

. His first play, it depicts the contrasts and conflicts between established

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

s and "

fresh off the boat ''Fresh Off the Boat'' is an American television sitcom created by Nahnatchka Khan and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. It is loosely inspired by the life of chef and food personality Eddie Huang and his 2013 autobiography ...

" (FOB) newcomer immigrants.

Production history

The play premiered at the

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

Asian American Theatre Project in 1979 under the direction of the author and was further developed at the National Playwrights Conference at the

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theater company founded in 1964 by George C. White. It is commonly referred to as The O'Neill, seating just over 1,000 guests. The center has received two ...

in July 1979.Boles, William C. ''Understanding David Henry Hwang'', Chapter 2, Univ of South Carolina Press, 2013, It received its professional debut on June 8, 1980

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

at the

Joseph Papp Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: A ...

, closing on July 13, 1980. It was directed by

Mako , better known by the mononym name Mako (sometimes stylised MAKO), is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actress, singing, singer and a member of the band Bon-Bon Blanco, in which her prominent role is as the maraca player. She has also perf ...

, with

John Lone John Lone (; born October 13, 1952) is a Chinese-American retired actor. He starred as Puyi in the Academy Award-winning film '' The Last Emperor'' (1987), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. A veteran of the E ...

and

Tzi Ma Tzi Ma (;) is a Hong Kong-American actor. He has appeared in television shows including '' The Man in the High Castle'' and '' 24'', and films including ''Dante's Peak'', ''Rush Hour'', ''Rush Hour 3'', '' Arrival'', '' The Farewell'', ''Tiger ...

in the cast. According to William C. Boles (professor of English at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida), "for a first-time play premiering off-Broadway, ''FOB'' received fairly complimentary notices."

Joseph Papp Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp is a pioneering figure in American theater, known for creating Shakespeare in the Park, which aimed to make classi ...

supported Hwang's work, producing his first four plays. The play was revived Off-Broadway at the Pan Asian Repertory Theater at Playhouse 46 in May 1990, directed by Hwang. The play was produced by the

Asian American Theater Company The Asian American Theater Company (AATC) is a non-profit theatre performance company based in San Francisco. Its stated mission is "To connect people to Asian American culture through Theatre". The company's main stage productions are new plays an ...

, San Francisco, California at the Magic Theatre, with direction by Mitzie Abe from March 24 to April 10, 2005."2005 Production"
Asian American Theater Company It is published as part of ''Trying to Find Chinatown: The Selected Plays'' by

Theatre Communications Group Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is a non-profit service organization headquartered in New York City that promotes professional non-profit theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, us ...

and also in an acting edition published by

Dramatists Play Service Dramatists Play Service is a theatrical-publishing and licensing house imprint of Broadway Licensing Global. Established in 1936 by members of the Dramatists Guild of America and the Society for Authors' Representatives, DPS publishes English-la ...

References

External links

*
2005 revival
by the

{{David Henry Hwang Plays by David Henry Hwang 1980 plays Off-Broadway plays Obie Award–winning plays Plays about race and ethnicity Plays set in the United States