FACES FOR THE NINETIES : ...

David Henry Hwang has been writing plays since the late ‘70s, but he made his biggest splash in 1988 with “M. Butterfly.” It made Broadway swoon and won him a Tony.

Hwang went on to write the libretto for the Philip Glass opera, “One Thousand Airplanes on the Roof,” which toured several American cities in ’88 and some abroad. He’s been in demand, in all fields, ever since.

He’s finishing an as-yet untitled play, “sort of a multicultural farce,” that fulfills a commission from Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory. It then goes to Jujamcyn Theaters, a Broadway producing unit that partially underwrote the play and, said Hwang, “basically has an option on it.”

He’s doing another Philip Glass opera, “The Voyage,” commemorating the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ journey to this continent, set for New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1992.

And he’s hitting the movies.

Hwang, who had once told this writer that being of his generation meant being fascinated with film, has completed a screenplay (untitled), which he’ll also direct for TV’s “American Playhouse”--his first time at bat as a director.

He has written an epic film about Tibet for Disney, a screenplay about Oscar Wilde for Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, and is about to start writing the “M. Butterfly” screenplay for producer David Geffen.