Caveat Presents Dedicate It With David Henry Hwang

Join host Emily Ludolph and a special guest, superstar playwright and librettist David Henry Hwang, at Dedicate It, a live show and podcast that zeroes in on the dedication page.

Emily Ludolph's Dedicate It explores the stories behind the people and experiences that motivate our favorite writers, musicians, and scientists. Each show isolates a single great dedication, holds intimate conversations with the people we admire most about the people they admire most, and hosts an open mic for everyone to make a dedication to someone who got them where they are today.

Tonight's guest is playwright and librettist David Henry Hwang, who will discuss how a prompt from the late, great Sam Shepard grew into his first play, FOB, and why Family Devotions is dedicated to Shepard. Expect insight into Hwang's process behind the creation of M. Butterfly and Yellow Face and to hear more about how mentorship and family ties underpin the American stage's Tony award-winning plays.

David Henry Hwang's work includes the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, and the Broadway musicals Aida (co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival) and Disney's Tarzan. He is America's most-produced living opera librettist, who has worked with composers Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, and Bright Sheng. Hwang is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee, a three-time Obie Award winner and a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is currently a writer/producer for the Golden Globe-winning television series The Affair. From 1994-2000, he sat by appointment of President Bill Clinton on the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

Emily Ludolph is an alum of TED Conferences, where she shepherded business speakers to the stage as part of the TED Institute program. She has produced full cast recordings of American plays as part of the radio show and podcast Playing on Air. In her time working in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art she developed an attachment to Alexander Hamilton's fifteen-foot-tall clock. Before that, Emily and the BEAT Festival programmed Brooklyn performers in nontraditional spaces. Her favorite job of all has been coaching high school juniors on personal essays for their college applications. She has also published in Design Observer, Quartz, and Narratively.

Caveat is New York's newest speakeasy stage for playful, intelligent nightlife. The core creative team includes a recovering theoretical physicist, a renegade museum tour guide, and a one-time Moth StorySlam champion. That love for science and unconventional storytelling is at the heart of Caveat's booking philosophy: Caveat regularly hosts comedy, science talks, storytelling, concerts, trivia competitions, live recorded podcasts, and special events that defy description ... you'll have to come experience them for yourself! The decor is Harvard Club meets CBGB - the wood paneled walls and shelves hold images, artifacts and books from all corners of the academic world. Caveat seats about 120, with cabaret style tables, armchairs and bar stools. The venue was created with podcasting and filming in mind with a state-of-the art light and sound system. The bar serves ten craft beers on tap, ten wines by the glass and by the bottle, a selection of ciders and digestifs, and some truly tasty specialty sodas. Caveat is finalizing a menu but are currently serving imaginative grilled cheeses, charcuterie plates, spiced nuts, chocolate and popcorn. Check out the menu for all the details.

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