"Lee's way of subverting expectations leaves us questioning our own
latent assumptions and desires about theatre, race, death and
entertainment. She understands and exploits the unique strengths of her
medium: the ability to viscerally connect with an audience." -The
Economist
Experimental Korean American theatre artist Young Jean Lee has been
called "one of the best experimental playwrights in America" (Time Out
New York). This volume contains two of her recent works:
In The Shipment, Lee provides a provocative look at African-American
identity in our not-yet post-racial society. The New York Times calls
this take on cultural images of black America "a subversive, seriously
funny new theater piece... Ms. Lee wields sharp, offbeat humor to point
up the clichés, distortions and absurdities" (Charles Isherwood, New
York Times).
LEAR is Lee's own version of Shakespeare's tragedy, focusing on the
king's three daughters. A production in which Lear himself never
appears, LEAR is a "wacky blend of 'To be or not to be, ' Beckett, and
Pirandello...full of exhilarating, illuminating moments" (Village
Voice).
Young Jean Lee has written and directed shows in New York with Young
Jean Lee's Theater Company and toured her work to over twenty cities
around the world. Her plays include Straight White Men, We're Gonna
Die, Untitled Feminist Show, The Shipment, Lear and Songs of the
Dragons Flying to Heaven. Awards include two Obies, the Festival Prize
of the Zuercher Theater Spektakel, a Prize in Literature from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a
Doris Duke Artist Award.
