The Shipment and Lear
Young Jean Lee
- 96 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Shipment and Lear
Young Jean Lee
About This Book
“A subversive, seriously funny new theater piece by the adventurous playwright Young Jean Lee.... Ms. Lee does not shy away from prodding the audience’s racial sensitivities—or insensitivities—in a style that is sometimes sly and subtle, sometimes as blunt as a poke in the eye.”—Charles Isherwood, The New York Times
“Lee is a facetious provocateur; she does whatever she can to get under our skins—with laughs and with raw, brutal talk... [and with] so ingenious a twist, such a radical bit of theatrical smoke and mirrors, that we are forced to confront our own preconceived notions of race.”—Hilton Als, The New Yorker
With The Shipment, her latest work taking on identity politics, Young Jean Lee “confirms herself as one of the best experimental playwrights in America” ( Time Out New York ). The Korean American theater artist has taken on cultural images of black America, in a play that begins with sketches of African American clichés—an angry, foul-mouthed comedian; an aspiring young rapper who ends up in prison—and ends with a seemingly naturalistic parlor comedy, which slyly reveals the larger game Lee is playing, leaving us to consider the many ways that we see the world through a racial lens.
Young Jean Lee is a playwright, director, and artistic director of her own OBIE Award-winning theater company, which as been producing her plays since 2003. Her other works include Songs of Dragons Flying to Heaven, Church, The Appeal, and Pullman, WA, and they have been produced across the country and internationally.
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Information
Production History
DANCER 2, SIDEKICK MICHAEL, CRACKHEAD JOHN, BAD COP 2, SASHAY, OMAR | Mikéah Ernest Jennings |
DANCER 1, DRUG DEALER DESMOND, RECORD COMPANY EXECUTIVE, SINGER 2, DESMOND | Prentice Onayemi |
RAPPER OMAR, SINGER 3, MICHAEL | Okieriete Onodowan |
STAND-UP COMEDIAN, GRANDPA JOE, PAUL THE EXTREME, BAD COP 1, THOMAS | Douglas Scott Streater |
MAMA, DRUG DEALER MAMA, VIDEO HO, GRANDMA FROM HEAVEN, SINGER 1, THOMASINA | Amelia Workman |
STAGEHAND 1 | Joseph John |
STAGEHAND 2 | Foteos Macrides |
DANCER 2, SIDEKICK MICHAEL, CRACKHEAD JOHN, BAD COP 2, SASHAY, OMAR | Mikéah Ernest Jennings |
DANCER 1, DRUG DEALER DESMOND, RECORD COMPANY EXECUTIVE, SINGER 2, DESMOND | Prentice Onayemi |
RAPPER OMAR, SINGER 3, THOMAS | Jordan Barbour |
STAND-UP COMEDIAN, GRANDPA JOE, PAUL THE EXTREME, BAD COP 1, MICHAEL | Douglas Scott Streater |
MAMA, DRUG DEALER MAMA, VIDEO HO, DENISE, WENDY, GRANDMA FROM HEAVEN, SINGER 1, THOMASINA | Amelia Workman |
STAGEHAND 1 | Edward Hawkins |
STAGEHAND 2 | Joe McCutcheon |
Authorâs Note
You delight me
And I know youâre speaking of me
Get beside me,
I want you to love me
That youâre lovely and youâre perfect
And that somebody wants you
The scene makinâ
Want a temporary savior
Donât betray them
By becoming familiar
That youâre lovely and youâre perfect
And that somebody wants you
That youâre priceless and youâre precious
Even when you are not new.
That youâre lovely and youâre perfect
And that somebody wants you
That youâre priceless
Yeah, youâre holy
Even when you are not new
Fascinating new thing (fascinating new thing)
Fascinating new thing (fascinating new thing)
Fascinating new thing (fascinating new thing).