Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

An American Soldier

David Lee in An American Soldier.

May 12–19, 2024
251 Fulton Street New York, NY 10007

Danny Chen. Remember the name. In An American Soldier, the composer Huang Ruo and the playwright David Henry Hwang memorialize the Chinese-American Army Private who was found dead in a guard tower at his base in Afghanistan on October 3, 2011. It’s hard to know how to honor such a casualty. Thankfully, Huang Ruo and Hwang are artists to whom the meaning of the word propaganda seems to be unknown. We’re promised “the powerful true story of a young solider from Manhattan’s Chinatown who sought to serve his country, only to find his biggest threat was the very people who swore to protect him.” —Matthew Gurewitsch