I still believe that the main purpose of a theater review is to help readers decide whether a show is actually worth seeing and whether it is worth the ticket price. King of the Yees at Signature Theatre is well worth the ticket price and definitely worth seeing. It is a clever script with a strong cast, good direction, a universal message, and several laugh-out-loud moments. It is also worth mentioning that this is Signature’s only non-musical offering this season.

However, the plot of Lauren Yee’s King of Yees is less straightforward to explain. To give an example, we are first introduced to Lauren Yee and her father Larry Yee, who are then interrupted by the real Lauren Yee and her father Larry Yee as we discover we are watching a rehearsal of a new play written by Lauren Yee about her father and herself and their relationship to Chinatown in San Francisco. It is no coincidence that Lauren Yee is also the name of the author of King of Yees, as this is in many ways an autobiographical piece. Yet what unfolds is a comically absurd tale of the relationship between a parent and child and the fear of losing a cultural identity. It is an epic tale worthy of the greatest Greek Myths. Yet by making the tale as specific as possible, the author also creates a story that we can all relate to. What does the average person have in common with an Asian father and daughter in a changing San Francisco Chinatown? Honestly, quite a lot, as often gets pointed out to us by the father-figure.

Lauren Yee is portrayed by Ashley D. Nguyen with a ferocity and energy that seems impossible to sustain, but she manages to do so till the very last breathless moment. She takes what could be a distinctly unlikeable character and portrays her with honesty and strength. Grant Chang, as her father Larry Yee, is everything we could possibly want in a father figure encapsulating simultaneously dad jokes, awkwardness, love, and a sincere protectiveness both for his daughter and for their way of life. Together their chemistry sets a strong foundation for a roller coaster of emotions and converging plot lines.

Every other character in the show (which includes a multitude of Chinatown residents, a dragon, and even an ancient ancestor) are played by just three actors. Listed in the program as simply Actor 1 – Jacob Yeh, Actor 2 – Sylvia Kwan, Actor 3 – Nicholas Yenson. These three incredibly talented actors pull off one of the hardest feats in the world of theater: they make you forget that they are only three actors playing multiple roles. At the end of the evening, I could not tell you who played which part, they were that good! Each character that they portrayed was so distinct, well rounded and had its own harmonic chemistry with each other character it was easy to forget this was not a cast of 20 or more. The energy level that these actors maintained– without once betraying each individual character’s own special moments– was astonishing. There is no denying that this is a strong script, but one that demands a very special cast to embody- and which I believe this production has.

While the tale is epic, the performance is incredibly intimate. The Ark theater space is set up in thrust with the audience on three sides of the action, with seating limited to slightly over 100 people. This brings the audience even further into the story, especially when the fourth wall is often non-existent in this production. A deceptively simple set design by Tanya Orellana and a very creative lighting design by Minjoo Kim serve well to bring the magic that is unique to live theater. The sound design by Mathew M. Nielson was clever without ever being intrusive, a hard task to pull off. A special shout out to Helen Q. Huang for creating costumes that need to be designed for quick changes and yet be incredibly functional in helping the audience to quickly identify each fleeting character.

I hope that the cohesiveness of the performances in this show is in part due to the indomitable direction of Jennifer Chang. It takes a great deal of talent to take a tale written on the page and bring it to life in a way that feels organic and natural, especially when it is such a fantastic tale as this. There are times when it feels as if the whole production is literally flying out of control and could come apart at the seams at any moment and yet it continues to push forward with a madness that appears to be unstoppable. Every moment seems fresh and unrehearsed as if it is the first time any of these events are happening. Yet still we feel as if we are in safe hands as the story unfolds, most impressive indeed!

This is the DC premier of King of Yees. The world premiere was in 2017 by the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. The author, Lauren Yee is the winner of the Doris Duke Artist Award, the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Horton Foote Prize, the Kesselring Prize, the ATCA/Steinberg Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award, and the Francesca Primus Prize. She has been a finalist for the Edward M. Kennedy Prize and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her plays were the #1 and #2 plays on the 2017 Kilroys List. She may be best known in the DC area for her show Cambodian Rock Band.