An American Soldier (opera)

An American Soldier is an opera in two acts composed by Huang Ruo to a libretto by playwright David Henry Hwang. It initially premiered in a one-act version in 2014 and was subsequently expanded to two acts. The two-act version had its world premiere on 3 June 2018 during the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis festival. A New York production ran from 12-19 May 2024 at PAC NYC. The opera is based on a true story, the suicide of Danny Chen, a Chinese-American U.S. Army soldier who had been subjected to racial harassment and beatings by his fellow soldiers. Chen died in 2011 at his U.S. Army post in Afghanistan from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.