"At Thursday night's rehearsal Patrick smiles for the first time, and it's as though someone has taken the kaleidoscope and given the knob a mighty twist, and everyone laughs, delighted, because his smile is so delighted and lovely, and all the colors for a moment are orange and yellow and rose. He is still on the quiet side in general tonight, and dressed, as usual, in gently formal attire - light gray trousers, belted, and a blue-gray plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up - but his manner overall seems lighter, both between scenes and during, as he has begin to inhabit Song somewhat more openly and playfully. When everyone else's laughter makes him throw back his own head and laugh, he looks suddenly fourteen years old. Or eight. He looks as if he should still have baby teeth, his laugh is so sweetly gleeful and unchecked."
The above passage comes from my 2001 nonfiction book about American community theater, in which I followed one group's production of the David Henry Hwang play M. Butterfly from start to finish. The title role was played by a young, preternaturally poised M.I.T. graduate who spoke seven languages and sang German lieder. This was Patrick Wang, born and raised in Houston by traditional Taiwanese parents, and now, some ten years after I wrote about him, living in New York and working in theater and film.
His first feature film is debuting this fall, playing in Hawaii and San Diego before opening in New York on November 4. The San Diego Asian Film Festival has written these beautiful program notes, which conclude, "IN THE FAMILY pulls no dramatic shortcuts and makes no compromises. Out of respect to the reality of struggle, this is a civil rights drama with no miracles. The only miracle perhaps is that the film’s director, writer, producer, and lead actor is one man, Patrick Wang, who pulls off an unforgettable feat of unflinching filmmaking."
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