Presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Theater & Music Theater, with additional support provided by the Douglas G. McGrath ’80 Fund for the Creative and Performing Arts and the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Playwright-in-Residence Fund.
Flight of a Legless Bird was developed in collaboration with New York Theater Workshop’s Mind the Gap Program, CHUANG Stage, PAO Arts Center, and Asian American Theater Artists of Boston (AATAB).
Flight of a Legless Bird by Ethan Luk ’24
Run Time
Approximately 3 hours with a 10 minute intermission
Program Notes
“I’ve heard that there’s a kind of bird without legs that can only fly and fly, and sleep in the wind when it is tired. The bird only lands once in its life…that’s when it dies.”
— Leslie Cheung, Days of Being Wild (dir. Wong Kar-Wai)
“When it hurts we turn to the banks of certain rivers.”
— Czesław Miłosz, I Sleep A Lot
“i adjust for the time difference
and through my life i pass.”
– Bei Dao (tr. Jonathan Chan), On the Road
Content Advisory
This production contains mentions and discussions of homophobia, mentions and discussions of suicide, depictions of mental illness (including depression), depictions of physical violence and intimacy.
Special Notes
No flash photography permitted. Please silence all electronic devices including cellular phones and watches, and refrain from text messaging for the duration of the performance.
Talkback: April 6
A post-show conversation will take place following the April 6 performance. The discussion will focus on intergenerational queer mentorship and will include Tony Award-winning and former Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop James Nicola, and Director of Education and Community Engagement at New York Theatre Workshop Alexander Santiago-Jirau, moderated by Ethan Luk.
Accessibility
Berlind Theatre is an accessible venue with wheelchair and companion seating available. An assistive listening system is available and headphones can be requested from ushers. Parts of the play are in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English; non-English sections of the play will be translated to English via supertitles. Visit our Venues and Studios section for accessibility information at our various locations, including Berlind Theatre. Attendees in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.
Cast
Robin: Wasif Sami ’25*
Dinah: Sabina Jafri ’24*
David/Chris: Xander Constantine ’27
Kenny/Cruiser: John Venegas Juarez ’25*
Leslie: Ethan Luk ’24*
Anita: Tiffanie Cheng ’24
Wut-Hoi/Nurse: Abby Lu ’26
Theo/Daffy: Andrew Mi ’25
Production Team
Directors: Ethan Luk ’24* and R.N. Sandberg
Set Designer: Wesley Cornwell
Costume Designer: Mel Ng
Lighting Designer: Kerstin Fagerstrom ’24*
Sound Designer: Nathan Leigh
Projection Designer: Danny Landez G24
Stage Manager: Emily Yang ’26*
Sound Engineer: Breanna (Bree) Fais
Assistant Stage Manager: Giao Vu Dinh ’24, Molly Lopkin ’25*, Jackie Qin ’27
Wardrobe Charge: Marissa Edwards
Berlind Run Crew: Tone Williams, Liandra Marcano, Vander Washington, Dylan Harris
Berlind LBO: Michelle Pouaille
Run Crew: Faith Ho ’27, Steph Chen ’25*
A2: Jacob LaSpada
Intimacy/Violence Director: David Anzuelo
*denotes a certificate student/minor in the Program in Theater & Music Theater
Faculty Advisors
R.N. Sandberg, Playwriting and Directing Advisor
Jane Cox, Production Advisor
Karen Emmerich, Academic Advisor
Letter from the Senior Thesis Proposer
Dear Reader,
I am writing this letter on April 1, 2024, the twenty-first anniversary of Leslie Cheung’s passing. We have just finished a long weekend of tech rehearsals, utilizing the hearts, minds, and hands of more than thirty intrepid cast, crew, design, and faculty members. A lot of very kind people have asked me how I’m feeling during this stressful period. There is grief–my heart is heavy with all the ghosts we invoke in this play. There is nervousness—the anxiety of sending out a show I have dreamed about forever to a public audience. But there is so much gratitude. And ultimately, that is the feeling I want to uplift the most.
Tech has been tiring, but there were brief moments in which I could catch a breath and take a second to admire how much has gone into the making of this show. When I first began to write Flight of a Legless Bird in 2021, I didn’t know it would unfold into a three-year long journey that would eventually evolve into the culminating experience of my time at Princeton. Flight arose from a time of extreme isolation—the COVID-19 pandemic. I wrote because I wanted to create an ensemble of characters and stories I could spend time with.
Over the years, Flight has connected me to a mighty web of artists. I want to thank all the cast and crew of the previous, developmental iterations of the play at Lang Yuan Vintage (Beijing) and at PAO Arts Center (produced by CHUANG Stage and Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston). Thank you for seeing and nurturing the work. Out of all my early collaborators, there is one that shines the brightest. To my dear friend Wilson Wang, thank you for being the first person who read and believed in this work, and the first person to stage it. I am grateful that Flight was founded upon the bedrock of our friendship, and even more grateful that I get to call you my friend. I think of you every time I go to rehearsal.
This production at Princeton has undoubtedly been the most intricate, comprehensive iteration of Flight thus far. I must thank Bob Sandberg, my brilliant playwriting and directing advisor, who fearlessly stepped in to direct the show alongside me when I learned I had to play Leslie. Bob, I have learned so much from you. Your mentorship is one of the most invaluable experiences of my time at Princeton. Thank you for contributing your “Most Improved Wrestler” trophy from 1964 to this production—it is my favorite prop in the show (alongside the red heels). I hope to carry your lessons within me for the rest of my life. Thank you to Danny, Kerstin, Mel, Nathan, and Wesley, a genius cohort of designers whose attention to detail and formidable intelligence have molded the world of the play with incomparable dexterity. Thank you to the cast: Abby, Andrew, John, Sabina, Tiff, Wasif, and Xander. You have all made these roles your own with so much integrity, humor, and heart. It is an honor to laugh with you all in the rehearsal room, to hold your hands onstage as we walk through the journey of the play together. Thank you to the astounding group of stage managers, Emily, Giao, Jackie, and Molly (and SM mentors Carmelita and Milan!), who have all worked so tirelessly to keep this show afloat. You are the guardian angels of Flight. Thank you to Jane Cox, my production advisor, who has supported my theater journey at Princeton since day one. Thank you, Jane, for not giving up on me even when I couldn’t figure out how to use the light lab during my freshman spring. Thank you to our intimacy and fight director, Dave Anzuelo, who expertly created a safe space for the cast and prioritized our well-being when navigating difficult moments. Thank you to the entire LCA and McCarter staff (too many names to list!) who have moved many (logistical) mountains to make this show possible.
Working on Flight has been the privilege of a lifetime. But the greater privilege is being able to collaborate with Encke, my writing partner at New York Theatre Workshop’s Mind the Gap program three years ago, whose stories inspired the character of Robin in Flight. Encke, working with you and writing towards you has changed everything I know about my craft for the better. I write because I want to honor your generosity. I write because I know you are there, waiting for me on the other end of the page.
Dear reader, thank you for being here tonight and sharing this show with us. I hope it inspires you to hold the people you love a little tighter.
Time is what you have left,
Ethan
Land Acknowledgement
An estimated 10 million Native Americans lived in North America before the arrival of European colonizers. Many thousands lived in Lenapehoking, the vast homeland of the Lenni-Lenape, who were the first inhabitants of what is now called eastern Pennsylvania and parts of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware.
Princeton stands on part of the ancient homeland and traditional territory of the Lenape people. In 1756, the College of New Jersey erected Nassau Hall with no recorded consultation with the Lenni-Lenape peoples.
Treaties and forced relocation dispersed Lenape-Delaware to Ohio, Kansas, and Oklahoma. We acknowledge the violence of settler colonialism and pay respect to Lenape peoples past, present, and future and their continuing presence in the homeland and throughout the Lenape diaspora.
For more information about ways you can engage with and support the Indigenous community on campus please visit the website of Native American and Indigenous studies (NAI), Natives at Princeton and Princeton Indigenous Advocacy Coalition.
Lewis Center for the Arts
Chair: Judith Hamera
Executive Director: Marion Friedman Young
Director of Program in Theater: Jane Cox
Producing Artistic Director, Theater And Music Theater Season: Elena Araoz
View a list of Program in Theater & Music Theater faculty & guest artists
For a look at all the people working behind the scenes to bring you this event, view a list of LCA staff members.
The programs of the Peter B. Lewis Center for the Arts are made possible through the generous support of many alumni and other donors. View a list of LCA Supporters
