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Young Jean Lee

ヤング・ジーン・リー

Yangu Jīn Rī

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
Daegu, South Korea
Nationality
American
Languages
English, Korean
Residence History
Pullman, Washington, USA → Berkeley, California, USA → New York City, USA → Stanford, California, USA

Career

Occupations
Playwright, Director, Filmmaker, Professor
Affiliations
Yaddo (board member), New Dramatists (former member), 13P (former member), Radiohole (collaboration), National Theater of the United States of America (collaboration), Denning Family Professor in the Arts (Stanford University)
Memberships
Yaddo (board), New Dramatists (former member), 13P (former member)
Influenced By
Mac Wellman (mentor/instructor), Shakespearean scholarship (education)
Influenced
Contemporary experimental playwrights

Education

University of California, Berkeley
English
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Graduated summa cum laude; elected to Phi Beta Kappa
University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D. program in English)
English (Shakespeare studies)
Degree: Ph.D. program (在籍・修了状況不明)
Country: United States
Studied Shakespeare for approximately six years before moving to New York to pursue playwriting
Brooklyn College
Playwriting (Mac Wellman's program)
Degree: MFA
Country: United States
Received MFA as part of Mac Wellman's playwriting program

Awards

Guggenheim Fellowship
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: Winner
OBIE Award
Organization: Obie Awards
Result: Winner
Prize in Literature, American Academy of Arts and Letters
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: Winner
PEN Literary Award (PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award)
2016
Organization: PEN America
Result: Winner
United States Artists Fellowship
Organization: United States Artists
Result: Fellow
Windham–Campbell Prize
2019
Organization: Windham–Campbell Prizes (Yale University)
Result: Winner
Doris Duke Performing Artist Award
Organization: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Result: Winner
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists
2006
Organization: Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Result: Recipient
ZKB Patronage Prize, Zürcher Theater Spektakel
Organization: Zürcher Theater Spektakel / ZKB
Result: Winner
Edwin Booth Award
2018
Organization: Edwin Booth Award (awarded/announced in industry outlets)
Result: Recipient

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Straight White Men

2014 Theatre / Play

A play that examines the lives and privileges of straight white men through dark humor and social critique. The production reached Broadway in 2018; Lee became the first Asian American woman to have a play produced on Broadway.

IdentityPrivilegeFamilyDark humor

We're Gonna Die

2011 Theatre / Musical-theatre hybrid

A piece combining songs and monologues on death and the fragility of life. Performed with the band Future Wife and later released as an album.

DeathFragility of lifeCommunityHumor
Adaptations
  • [Music album] We're Gonna Die (Future Wife) (2013)

The Shipment

2009 Theatre (experimental)

An experimental play provocatively addressing race and stereotypes, challenging the audience's assumptions about racial representation.

RaceStereotypesPolitical critique

Lear

2010 Theatre (reimagining of Shakespeare)

A reimagining of Shakespeare's King Lear that revisits family and violence from a contemporary perspective.

FamilyPowerViolence

Here Come the Girls

Short film

A short film by Lee that premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival and had its U.S. premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

FilmRepresentations of women

Bibliography

  • Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven and Other Plays
  • The Shipment and Lear
  • We're Gonna Die
  • Straight White Men / Untitled Feminist Show
  • Three Plays by Young Jean Lee (Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, The Appeal, Pullman, WA)

Adaptations

  • We're Gonna Die (album and live performances with Future Wife)
  • Here Come the Girls (short film; premiered at Locarno; U.S. premiere at Sundance)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
ExperimentalAvant-gardeBlend of dark humor and political satire
Recurring Motifs
IdentityRace and stereotypesFamily relationshipsLife and deathHumor/satire

Legacy

Young Jean Lee is regarded as one of the most important experimental playwrights in contemporary American theatre. Her 2018 Broadway production of Straight White Men was historically significant as the first play by an Asian American woman to be produced on Broadway. Her work, presented internationally across theatre, music and film, has had multifaceted influence.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters (Prize recipient)

Archives

  • Young Jean Lee's Theater Company Archive

In Popular Culture

  • Collaborations with musicians (e.g., David Byrne) and performances at events like Meltdown Festival have raised her profile beyond theatre audiences

Quotes

  • One of the most accomplished, articulate, versatile, and hilarious playwrights, musicians, and artists that we in America have to offer.
    Source: Lou Reed — message published via Young Jean Lee's Theater Company archive
  • She was called 'the most adventurous downtown playwright of her generation.'
    Source: Charles Isherwood, The New York Times (2012)

Trivia

  • Born in 1974; moved to the United States at age two and grew up in Pullman, Washington.
  • In 2018, with the Broadway production of Straight White Men she became the first Asian American woman to have a play produced on Broadway.
  • Granddaughter of Son Chint'ae, a key figure in Korean folklore studies.