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Young Jean Lee is Born
Lee was born in Daegu, South Korea to James and Inn-Soo Lee. -
The Lee Family Immigrates to the U.S.
James, Inn-Soo and their two-year-old daughter, Young Jean Lee, immigrated to the United States in 1976 where Lee grew up in the small town of Pullman, Washington. -
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Lee's Experience as an Asian American
Although Lee was not old enough to remember the Asian American movement that lasted from the late 1960s - mid 1970s, she has been very vocal about her experiences as an Asian American and it is heavily influenced in her work, especially "Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven". She stated that although she wasn't bullied, most of her white peers completely ignored her as if she wasn't even there. They treated her as though she was a parasite to stay clear from. -
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Lee Attends College and enters Ph.D. Program
Although the exact years are unknown, Lee attended UC Berkeley where she majored in English. Immediately after graduating, she entered UC Berkeley's English Ph.D. program where she studied Shakespeare. She met and worked with the Shakespeare scholars Stephen Greenblatt and Stephen Booth. For her dissertation topic, she chose Shakespeare's "King Lear". -
Lee Gets Married & Moves to New Haven
Lee married her husband when she was twenty-six. Her husband enrolled in Yale Law School and they moved to New Haven, however, she was beginning to feel frustrated and unsatisfied with her work as well as her marriage. -
Lee Separates from Husband & Moves to New York
Feeling herself being drawn to her true passion, Lee separates from her husband and moves to New York where she enrolls in Mac Wellman’s Master of Fine Arts playwriting program at Brooklyn College.
She would eventually divorce from her husband. -
Lee Writes Her First Play, "Yaggoo" (2003)
In 2003, Lee wrote and directed her first play "Yaggoo". The play is a monologue performed by Jesse Hawley. According to Young Jean Lee's website, "Yaggoo" is about, "a whaler obsesses over his social interactions with his shipmates on a whaling ship."
https://youngjeanlee.org/work/yaggoo/ -
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Playwriting
Lee wrote eleven plays through her company, Young Jean Lee's Theater Company. She also directed ten out of the eleven productions, "We're Gonna Die" (2011) being the exception. Her other works include, but are not limited to, "Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals" (2003), "Pullman, WA" (2005), and "Lear" (2010). -
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Young Jean Lee's Theater Company
Lee opened her theater company, Young Jean Lee's Theater Company. She was the Artistic Director. It was a non-profict company where her work was produced. It toured over thirty cities around the world some including; Los Angeles, New York, Athens, Toronto, Berlin, Paris, Brighton, Melbourne and Seoul. -
"The Appeal" (2004)
While Lee continued her time in the MFA program at Brooklyn College, she wanted to write a play that was deemed "cool". As she struggled, Wellman suggested she write a play she didn't want to write and thus "The Appeal" was born.
It is about three English Romantic poets, "Byron, Coleridge, Dorothy, and Wordsworth as they get drunk, hang out, and commiserate in England and the Swiss Alps."
https://youngjeanlee.org/work/the-appeal/
It was also mounted at the Soho Rep in 2004. -
"Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven" (2006)
"SONGS OF THE DRAGONS FLYING TO HEAVEN follows a character named “Korean-American” as she navigates the increasingly disturbing levels of a pseudo-Korean world like a contestant in an identity-politics video game. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a white couple appears and launches into a dysfunctional relationship drama that eventually takes over the play."
https://youngjeanlee.org/work/songs-dragons-flying-heaven/ -
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award
In 2006, Lee was awarded financial support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists. -
"Church" (2007)
Lee, now Atheist, delves into her struggle with Evangelicalism/Christianity.
"In this play multiple preachings, devotionals, and testimonials are recited directly to the audience... In another monologue [Reverend Joe] talks about how Jesus would have loved the homosexuals, and would have been focused on helping the homeless immigrants."
https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/contemporaryplaywrightsofcolor/young-jean-lee?pli=1 -
"The Shipment" (2009)
"The Shipment was made in collaboration with an all-Black cast and is divided into two parts. The first half is structured like a minstrel show and was written to address the stereotypes the cast members felt they had to deal with as Black performers.For the second half of the show, Lee asked the actors to come up with roles they’d always wanted to play."
https://youngjeanlee.org/work/the-shipment/
Written in 2008, this idea was born from Lee's conversations she had with her Black actor friends. -
"Untitled Feminist Show" (2011)
"In UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW, six charismatic stars of the downtown theater, dance, cabaret, and burlesque worlds come together to invite the audience on an exhilaratingly irreverent, nearly-wordless celebration of a fluid and limitless sense of identity."
https://youngjeanlee.org/work/untitled-feminist-show/ -
Guggenheim Fellowship
Lee recieved the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011 for her exceptional creative ability in the arts. -
"Straight White Men" (2014)
"In STRAIGHT WHITE MEN, 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.... : when identity matters, and privilege is problematic, what is the value of being a straight white man?"
https://youngjeanlee.org/work/straight-white-men/
In 2018, "Straight White Men" became the first show produced on Broadway written by an Asian American woman. -
PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award
In 2016, Lee won the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award. This award recognizes two American playwrights, one receiving "a specially commissioned art object will be presented to a master American dramatist, in recognition of his or her body of work" and the other receiving a stipend of $7,500. Lee won the latter award.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEN/Laura_Pels_Theater_Award -
Edwin Booth Award
Lee won the Edwin Booth Award in 2018. This award is given to honor those who contribute to the NYC theatre community. -
Windham–Campbell Literature Prize
In 2019, Lee won the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize. Winners of this prize receive "an unrestricted remuneration of $165,000".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windham%E2%80%93Campbell_Literature_Prizes -
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Young Jean Lee Now
Although the exact years are unclear, Lee is currently an Associate Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at Standford University.
She is also working on a Broadway play commission for Second Stage and a screenplay commission for Cinereach. -
Reference Page Pt. 3
“Young Jean Lee.” Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity, https://ccsre.stanford.edu/people/young-jean-lee. Cristi, A.A. “Young Jean Lee to Receive 2018 Edwin Booth Award.” BroadwayWorld.com, https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Young-Jean-Lee-To-Receive-2018-Edwin-Booth-Award-20180305. -
Reference Page Pt. 1
“Home.” Young Jean Lee's Theater Company Archive, 20 July 2021, https://youngjeanlee.org/. “Young Jean Lee.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 July 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Jean_Lee. Als, Hilton. “Young Jean Lee's Identity Plays.” The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2014, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/03/real-gone-girl. “Young Jean Lee.” Contemporary Playwrights of Color, https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/contemporaryplaywrightsofcolor/young-jean-lee?pli=1. -
Reference Page Pt. 2
“Young Jean Lee.” Young Jean Lee | Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, https://tdps.berkeley.edu/young-jean-lee. “Young Jean Lee: Biography.” Young Jean Lee's LEAR, 7 May 2013, https://learbyyoungjeanlee.wordpress.com/the-playwright/. “Young Jean Lee.” Windham Campbell Prizes, https://windhamcampbell.org/festival/2019/recipients/lee-young-jean#:~:text=Whatever%20the%20form%2C%20Lee%27s%20work,(2016)%2C%20and%20a%20Guggenheim.