KING OF THE YEES Comes to Baltimore Center Stage

Baltimore Center Stage has announced the cast and artistic team for its second play of the 2018/19 season, King of the Yees. Written by award-winning playwright Lauren Yee, King of the Yees is the hilarious and heartfelt generational story of a Chinese-American family.

King of the Yees shines an autobiographical lens on issues of racial identity and assimilation in American immigrant families and explores the vivid legacy of one changing Chinatown through the vibrant imagination of a new generation. For nearly 20 years, playwright Lauren Yee's father Larry has been a driving force in the Yee Family Association, a seemingly obsolescent Chinese-American men's club formed 150 years ago in the wake of the Gold Rush. But when her father goes missing, Lauren plunges into the rabbit hole of San Francisco's Chinatown to confront a world both foreign and familiar. King of the Yees is a joyride across cultural, national and familial borders that explores what it means to truly be a Yee.

"King of the Yees is a love letter to the Chinese community, a world that I often find myself trapped between familiarity and foreignness, affection and alienation. It is about trying to understand where your parents came from, and in doing so, discovering your own origin story", said director Desdemona Chiang. "It is also a love letter to Lauren Yee's father Larry, who is truly one of the most joyful, eccentric and radiant dads I've ever known."

Baltimore Center Stage served as a workshop home for this play in 2014 as a part of our Play Lab series and is pleased to welcome King of the Yees "home" to our Mainstage.

The cast includes Celeste Den* (Actor 2/Ensemble), Khanh Doan* (Lauren Yee), Stan Egi* (Larry Yee), Joe Ngo* (Actor 1/Ensemble) and Tony Aidan Vo* (Actor 3/Ensemble). The artistic team is led by director Desdemona Chiang and includes Carey Wong (Scenic Designer), Christine Tschirgi (Costume Designer), Jessica Trundy (Lighting Designer), Brendan Patrick Hogan and Alex Hawthorn (Sound Designers), Annie Yee (Choreographer), Gavin Witt and Sabine Decatur (Production Dramaturgs), Lauren Hickman* (Stage Manager) and Cathy Hwang* (Assistant Stage Manager).

*Member of Actors' Equity Association

King of the Yees begins with preview performances on Thursday, October 25, and closes Sunday, November 18. Press night is Opening Night, Thursday, November 1. Media members may request performance attendance via the online press request form to ensure availability of seats on the date requested. For all other press and interview requests please contact the public relations office. For more information, visit www.centerstage.org or call the box office at 410.332.0033.

King of the Yees is supported KPMG and Kramon and Graham. Baltimore Center Stage's 2018-19 Season is made possible by The Shubert Foundation, the Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences, and in part by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC).

Baltimore Center Stage is a theater committed to artistic excellence. We engage, enrich, and broaden the perspectives of diverse audiences through entertaining and thought-provoking work and educational programs. Named the State Theater of Maryland in 1978, Baltimore Center Stage has steadily grown as a leader in the national regional theater scene. Under Executive Director Michael Ross and Artistic Director Stephanie Ybarra, Baltimore Center Stage is committed to creating and presenting a diverse array of world premieres and exhilarating interpretations of established works. Baltimore Center Stage believes in access for all-creating a welcoming environment for everyone who enters its doors and, at the same time, striving to meet audiences where they are. In addition to Mainstage and intimate, affordable Bernard Black Box productions in the historic Mount Vernon neighborhood, Baltimore Center Stage ignites conversations across Baltimore and beyond through the Mobile Unit, which brings high-quality theater to economically, culturally and geographically diverse communities. The theater also nurtures the next generation of artists and theatergoers through the Young Playwrights Festival, Student Matinees, The Family Series and many other educational programs for students, families, and educators.