Young Jean Lee's unique playwright perspective

Young Jean Lee's unique playwright perspective

by Miryam Gordon - SGN A&E Writer VSONGS OF THE DRAGONS FLYING TO HEAVEN (A SHOW ABOUT WHITE PEOPLE IN LOVE) YOUNG JEAN LEE'S THEATER COMPANY MARCH 6-9 ON THE BOARDS On the Boards continues its quest to bring exciting theater to Seattle by bringing Young Jean Lee and her theater company to town. Young Jean was born in Korea, but spent her formative years in Pullman, WA before moving to San Francisco and then New York. Asked how her years in Pullman affected her artistic sensibilities, Young Jean replies, "I was so miserable and isolated growing up in Pullman that I ended up reading all the time and developing a bleak, Beckettian view of the universe that I probably wouldn't have had otherwise, since I'm naturally a pretty optimistic and social person. I'm sure I'm probably a more interesting person and artist than I would have been if my parents hadn't moved to Pullman from Cleveland, where I was one of the popular kids." Young Jean has a unique perspective on what she should work on next. She asks herself what would be the last play in the world that she would want to write. She talked with On the Boards Artistic Director Lane Czaplinski about her process. Lane Czaplinski: What was your motivation behind making the play? Young Jean Lee: My motivation behind all of my shows is usually anger and I was really angry because I felt like people were just dying for me to make an Asian-American play and didn't want me to make any other kind of work. I thought that was really messed up. So, I decided to really make that play, but totally ruin it. The moment that that person who wants me to write that play starts to feel 'oh, that's what I want,' I start to mess it up. I was so mad that people only wanted me to make an Asian-American show and then I thought, 'why don't I want to make an Asian-American show? Maybe I should make one.' I always ask myself what's the last kind of play you would ever want to write. Czaplinski: I wonder if part of your approach is simply out of & you would be bored otherwise if you tried to make conventional theater. Lee: That's totally true. I think why I'm a good fit with theater is that I'm very much 'the common man' in terms of my attention span. I was raised on television and sound bytes. So, I get bored. If I'm sitting in rehearsal or writing and I get bored, I have to instantly go on a different track or spin something in a different direction. Czaplinski: I'm going to ask a lame question, what role does story play in your approach? Lee: Story is definitely not very important in my work at all. My plays are highly structured, but they're not structured along the lines of a narrative with a plot. Czaplinski: Why do people want a beginning, middle and end? Lee: I think we're genetically hardwired to love stories. Everything is presented as an exciting narrative. When something's happening that has all of the other elements and there's no clear story, people are really bugged out by that. But now that I think about it, it's actually not true that story isn't important to my work, I'm always telling a story, I'm just interrupting it. I think I'm messing around with the traditional narrative. Underlying Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven is a totally conventional story about some Asian-American girl having intergenerational struggles with her family and is trying to find her identity. You can't really follow that narrative in the play, but that's the ghost that the entire play is messing around with. If that conversation gives you a sense of what you might un-expect, you can find out about tickets at www.ontheboards.org or call 206-217-9888.