In 'Soft Power' musical, playwright David Henry Hwang tackles racism, U.S.-China relations

A singing, tap dancing Hillary Clinton. A bright-eyed Broadway producer from mainland China. A Chinese-American playwright stabbed in the neck in a random hate crime.

“Soft Power” is a gonzo musical about Anti-Asian racism, U.S.-China relations, and the chaos of American democracy.

We sit down with co-creator David Henry Hwang about how he wrote himself and his political anxieties into “Soft Power.” A new version of the musical is now playing in the Washington D.C. region with an all-Asian cast.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.