The Shipment and Lear

The Shipment and Lear

<div>“Lee's way of subverting expectations leaves us questioning our own latent assumptions and desires about theatre, race, death and entertainment. She understands and exploits the unique strengths of her medium: the ability to viscerally connect with an audience.€ –<I>The Economist</I><br><br>Experimental Korean American theatre artist Young Jean Lee has been called “one of the best experimental playwrights in America€ (<I>Time Out New York</I>). This volume contains two of her recent works:<br><br>In <I>The Shipment</I>, Lee provides a provocative look at African-American identity in our not-yet post-racial society. The <I>New York Times</I> calls this take on cultural images of black America “a subversive, seriously funny new theater piece… Ms. Lee wields sharp, offbeat humor to point up the clich©s, distortions and absurdities€ (Charles Isherwood, <I>New York Times</I>).<br><br><I>LEAR</I> is Lee€s own version of Shakespeare€s tragedy, focusing on the king€s three daughters. A production in which Lear himself never appears, <I>LEAR</I> is a “wacky blend of ‘To be or not to be,€ Beckett, and Pirandello…full of exhilarating, illuminating moments€ (<I>Village Voice</I>).<br><br><br><B>Young Jean Lee</B> has written and directed shows in New York with Young Jean Lee€s Theater Company and toured her work to over twenty cities around the world. Her plays include <I>Straight White Men</I>, <I>We€re Gonna Die</I>, <I>Untitled Feminist Show</I>, <I>The Shipment</I>, <I>Lear</I> and <I>Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven</I>. Awards include two Obies, the Festival Prize of the Zuercher Theater Spektakel, a Prize in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Doris Duke Artist Award.<br></div>