Young Jean Lee Theater Company: Straight White Men
*The event has already taken place on this date: Sat, 01/23/2016
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“Young Jean Lee is, hands down, the most adventurous downtown playwright of her generation.” (New York Times)
UMS showcases Young Jean Lee’s two most recent theatrical essays on gender and identity. The plays are performed across the street from each other in the Power Center and Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre.
When Ed and his three adult sons come together to celebrate Christmas, they enjoy cheerful trash-talking, pranks, and takeout Chinese. Then they confront a problem that even a happy family can’t solve: when identity matters and privilege is problematic, what is the value of being a straight white man? “A compassionate study of one man’s uneasy search for meaning, and his discovery that, in the world of straight white men, failure may be acceptable, but being content with a disappointed life is most definitely not.” (New York Times)
What Makes It Renegade? Young Jean Lee uses the devices of theater to explore the meaning of race and gender. She approaches playwriting by asking herself, “What’s the last show in the world I would ever want to make?” This charged question has been the impetus of productions that have challenged and unsettled audiences worldwide, even allowing Lee to create a play without words about the female experience.
Tune In with UMS for a brief pre-performance talk. Just 15 minutes long, this Tune In will offer interesting information and provocative questions for thinking about, listening to, and watching the performance. Friday, January 22, 7:30 pm at Michigan League Henderson Room (3rd floor).
Breakfast Download Discussion. You’re invited to join UMS artists and other audience members for a breakfast discussion. We bring the bagels, cream cheese, and coffee! You bring your thoughts, rants, raves, and opinions! Free and open to the public; no registration required. Sunday, January 24, 11 am at U-M Alumni Center.
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