Presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Theater
King of the Yees by Lauren Yee
Program Note
King of the Yees is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.
The World Premiere of King of the Yees was produced in 2017 by Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois. Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Executive Director; and Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles, California; Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director; Stephen Roundtree, Executive Director.
King of the Yees was commissioned and produced in a developmental production by Goodman Theatre, Chicago in the New Stages Festival. Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Executive Director.
Run Time
Approximately 100 minutes with a brief 10-minute intermission.
Set Design Note
The character for the family’s name, Yee (余), is composed of two elements, a roof and a column. Together, they symbolize a home.
Content Warnings
This production utilizes chemical fog and haze, strobe lights and brightly colored lights, and sudden, loud noises. There is also a gunfight scene and use of mild profanity.
Special Notes
No video recording, audio recording, or flash photography permitted. Please silence all electronic devices including cellular phones and watches, and refrain from text messaging for the duration of the performance.
The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law. For more information, please visit Concord Theatricals – Protecting Artists.
Talkback Information
There will be a talkback following the April 13 performance with McCarter’s Director of Equity and Organizational Culture Gina Pisasale, a dramaturg and educator whose research includes Asian American performance, American dramaturgy, and representations of race within the American Theater.
Accessibility
Berlind Theatre is an accessible venue with wheelchair and companion seating available. The performance on Friday, April 14, will be open/live captioned (CART). An assistive listening system is available and headphones can be requested from ushers. 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
Lauren Yee: Sandra Chen ’24*
Larry Yee, Model Ancestor, Lion Dance: Zachary Lopez ’23
Actor 1 (Parker), Chorus, Lum Elder, and instrumentals: Parker Blumenberg ’23
Actor 2 (Eliyana), Whiskey Seller, and instrumentals: Eliyana Abraham ’23*
Danny Ma, Lion Dance, voice of Sichuan Face Changer, and live foley: Moses Yang ’26
Jenny Pang, Chorus, FBI Agent, Lion Dance, voice of Sichuan Face Changer, and instrumentals: Tinney Mak ’25
Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, Lion Dance, Lum Elder, and Sichuan Face Changer: Brandon Le ’26
Chiropractic Herbalist Acupuncturist, Dr. Zhao (erhu player), Chorus, Lum Elder, instrumentals, and live foley: Rosemary Paulson ’23*
Production Team
Director: Bi Jean Ngo
Set Designer: Aoshuang Zhang
Costume Designer: Ariel Wang
Lighting Designer: Angelica Qin ’23*
Sound Designer: Nicabec Casido ’23
Stage Manager: Aliha Mughal ’23*
Sound Engineer: Neil Jernigan
Assistant Stage Managers: Vera Fei ’26, Danica Truong ’24
Assistant Set Designer: Sahaf Chowdhury ’26
Assistant Costume Designer: Megan Pan ’23*
Stitchers: Wyatt Kim; Anne Xu ’26, Gaea Lawton ’23*, Tanaka Ngwara ’24*
Wardrobe Supervisor: Kasey Gillette
Berlind Electrician: Michelle Poulaille
Berlind Run Crew: Tyshaun “Tone” Williams, Dylan Harris
Follow spot operator/s: Matthew Ciccone ’25*
Run Crew: Sahaf Chowdury ’26, Taneyah Jolly ’24*
A2: Keanu Karim
Dialect coach: Ethan Luk ’24*
Lion Dance coach and cultural consultant: Melody Wong
*denotes a certificate student in the Program in Theater
Faculty Advisors
Tess James, Lighting advisor
Rob Kaplowitz, Sound advisor
Elena Araoz, Faculty project advisor
A Note from the Thesis Proposer
Hello, and as Larry Yee would tell me to say, welcome to King of the Yees! When it came time to pick a show for my senior project, I wanted to pick a play that was not only fun to light, but also fun to work on in general. You see, I’m passionate about representing the Asian-American experience on stage, and I’m lucky to have done that multiple times during my Princeton career. However, a lot of these Asian-American shows were ultra-dramatic depictions of Asian suffering, and they were a bit emotionally exhausting to work on. In addition, most of the audience was still white at many of these performances—so it really felt like we were just doing emotional labor to teach people about racism. I think that’s important, but so is celebrating joy, and (as Larry wisely says) so is telling a story that’s for the community that the story is about. I can only hope that’s what we’ve done here.
Thank you to this hardworking cast, crew, and design team. Thank you to the faculty who have supported this project—especially Bi Jean Ngo, for guiding and supporting us by bringing her spectacular vision to this work, and Tess James, who has been an incredible advisor to me. Thank you also to my family for their love. Most of all, thank you to my father, Hong Qin, to whom I’d like to dedicate this project. 爸爸, I know we have never understood each other, and I doubt we ever will. But I have never doubted for a second that you were my biggest cheerleader and supporter on this planet. This is for you.
—Angelica Qin ’23
Director’s Note
When I started out in the theater, I often found myself to be the only Asian person in a room. It was often a lonely experience. Many of us Asian actors competed for a limited amount of roles, and there were few opportunities to see Asians and our stories truly represented onstage.
Lauren Yee’s King of the Yees provides an opportunity for Asian theater artists to work on a piece that reflects our different perspectives on cultural traditions and expectations, that examines and dismantles stereotypes, and allows us to talk about generational conflicts. It’s also a play that invites us to celebrate Chinese culture along with the complexity of being Asian American through laughter and joy. This play gives us a chance, as Asian theater artists, to be unapologetically ourselves.
To direct this play with this group of Princeton students has been such an incredible gift. I have been honored with sharing the rehearsal room with a cast and crew of courageous, talented, and dedicated Asian identifying Princeton students. Their open hearts enrich every moment of every scene, and I cannot wait for them to share this experience with you. I want to express my gratitude towards Angelica Qin, who chose this play as her senior thesis. Her desire to bring together this community and to work on a creative project that expresses Asian joy is the reason we’re all here together, in this moment, sharing space and sharing this story. I am so proud of Angelica and of this beautiful group of student artists. And I thank all of you for being here with them and for them.
—Bi Jean Ngo
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 full list of the Program in Theater Faculty & Guest Artists
For a look at all the people working behind the scenes to bring you this event, view a full 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 full list of LCA Supporters »
