Visualizing Chinatown on the Stage: Lauren Yee
Learn how a Chinese American playwright envisioned San Francisco’s Chinatown in her play King of the Yees.
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Written by Priya Chhaya
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is working to support the preservation of America's Chinatowns. Sign our petition today to commit to the cultural preservation of America’s Chinatowns for future generations.
Photo of Rebecca Kiser in King of the Yees show art (2023) by Christopher MuellerNational Trust for Historic Preservation
In 2013, The Goodman Theatre commissioned Lauren Yee to write a play. She pitched a story about her dad Larry Yee, his relationship with Yee Fung Toy Family Association, and Lauren’s relationship with her own identity and heritage.
King of the Yees is about a father and daughter, but also about a connection to place alongside an intergenerational conversation about community change. Hear from Lauren about the process of writing the play and her thoughts on the importance of preserving Chinatowns.
Lauren Yee Headshot by Beowulf Sheehan and Lauren YeeNational Trust for Historic Preservation
"My name is Lauren Yee, I'm a Chinese American playwright, and I wrote the play King of the Yees."
The Opening Lines from "King of the Yees" by Lauren Yee
ACTOR 2 (LAUREN)
in san francisco chinatown, there is a door on waverly place
wedged between stockton and grant, clay and sacramento,
a door you have passed by dozens of times. and on the door is a sign
(ACTOR 1 appears as “larry.” he has a noticeable chinese accent)
ACTOR 1 (LARRY)
yee fûng toy goông saw.
ACTOR 2 (LAUREN)
or—
ACTOR 1 (LARRY)
THE YEE FUNG TOY FAMILY ASSOCIATION!
King of the Yees: Larry and Lauren by Courtesy of Lauren YeeNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Writing about family
"I think the one that scared me, was writing about my father and his relationship with these Chinese American family associations."
"... And it kind of scared me because it's a part of my childhood that is present, but I really resented it growing up. You know, or as me as someone who's an A-B-C, an American Born Chinese who doesn't speak the language, I felt very distant from the Yee Fung Toy and San Francisco Chinatown growing up. It was a place that we came where I felt like an outsider in my own culture. And so, I was like, oh, what is that about, and should I write about that?"
Behind the scenes with "King of the Yees." A 2023 production produced at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia.
For Lauren Yee, the Yee Fung Toy Association was something
“her father became active in once his father passed away, his father had been a member of it…and joining it was a way of getting to know his dad in a different way. I think writing this play was a way of me getting to know my father in life.”
King of the Yees: Ashley D. Nguyen (Lauren) and Grant Chang (2023) by Christopher MuellerNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Writing "King of the Yees"
"I started writing the play, it started in a very meta place where I was committing to write the story of Lauren and Larry based on the real-life human beings of Lauren and Larry and giving the audience some sort of fictionalized version of my relationship with my dad."
"I think the way that my dad tells stories is that I think there's a heightened or larger than life quality to them, and that there's a certain logic that makes sense to him that is slightly more opaque to me, or even much more opaque to someone who may not know what he's talking about or the community that he knows."
Photo of the cast of King of the Yees at Signature Theatre (2023) by DJ Corey PhotographyNational Trust for Historic Preservation
King of the Yees: Act 1 v. Act 2
"And I think I was interested in Act One where Larry is having to live in Lauren's world of its meta theater."
"We're in a theater with an audience, and it's very almost like hyperrealistic in a way. In Act Two, you get into Lauren trying to find her dad in Larry's world, which is to her feeling much more, unknown to her, much more unreliable, much more surprising and magical than she would've thought and trying to figure out, is there a way she can find her way through this world."
King of the Yees
ACTOR 2 (LAUREN)
i am lauren yee and this is a story.
a true story.
about my dad
about dying chinatowns
about how things fall apart and how to say goodbye.
Trailer for "King of the Yees." A 2023 production at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia.
Photo of Sylvia Kwan, Grant Chang, and Jacob Yeh in King of the Yees at Signature Theatre (2023) by DJ Corey PhotographyNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Larry Yee and San Francisco's Chinatown
"The first scene of the play, hopefully primes an audience to watch the rest of that play, that my father's understanding of the San Francisco Chinatown community is so rich and layered..."
"... and in a way just based on oral history, knowledge that exists nowhere else that I wanted to give the audience a sense of that richness and complexity and trying to set up what Chinatown is for many different people.
So that we could explore the play with more fun, especially in act two, that Lauren's knowledge of what San Francisco is at the start of the play is much more superficial. It's shallower. It’s a little flatter.
And that Larry's character in a way, but it's also going to convey all the contradictions of this community and all the competing interests that are going on and different ideas of what should we do with Chinatown. I think it's just a way to give you all the rich debates on this Chinatown and what it is and what it means to people."
Photo of Jacob Yeh and Ashley D. Nguyen in King of the Yees at Signature Theatre (2023) by DJ Corey PhotographyNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Walking Through Chinatown
"When my father was walking me through Chinatown, it suddenly opened up in this very satisfying way where just like all the people walking by, he knew exactly who they were and where they were going..."
"... and he was in relationship and in community with them. And you got a sense of Chinatown as a living organism made up of all these different people. And it's something that if I don't have my father, how do I maintain that kind of relationship with Chinatown when the people who know everything aren't there anymore? What do you have left?
How do you have a connection with any of that at all? And so, I think Act Two in the play is Lauren trying to channel some of what we've learned from her father in Act one and showing that she does have a connection to this place and that it may look different, but it's there. And Act Two is structured like a quest that Lauren has to get to her father, and in a way, the only way she's able to do that is going through this gauntlet of tasks that essentially prove that her father was right."
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How Chinatown influences me as an artist
"When I think of how Chinatown influences me as an artist, I think a lot about history. I'm very moved by the passage of time. I'm fascinated by what our parents and grandparents and great grandparents were like before they had kids, before they had families."
"I'm interested in what spaces get occupied by what new things. Like in San Francisco, Chinatown, for instance, new businesses come in and there's always this kind of tension around whether it's good for the neighborhood, bad for the neighborhood, who is it for? And I think a lot about inheritance."
Photo of Jacob Yeh and Ashley D. Nguyen in King of the Yees at Signature Theatre (2023) by DJ Corey PhotographyNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Why should we preserve Chinatowns?
"Preserving Chinatown is important because it helps us look back on our history. But I think preserving Chinatown doesn't necessarily mean making it a museum or a dead organism."
"To me, preserving Chinatown means taking care of what came there before, but also what's going on there now, and thinking about how you bridge the gap between generations and how you make Chinatown a place for new generations to work and play and be entertained and live, and that's a hard question of what that means."
Photo of Grant Chang and Ashely D. Nguyen in King of the Yees at Signature Theatre (2023) by Christopher MuellerNational Trust for Historic Preservation
How to tell the history of Chinatown
"The best way to tell the history of Chinatown is actually to see Chinatown in three dimensions and experience it and be a part of it. And that's going to be more fulfilling than any story I could tell you."
“When I think of Chinatown as a kid, Chinatown evokes a lot of different feelings, contradictory feelings. I think early on it was a sense of shame, and now whenever I go to a city, I'm excited to see the Chinatown and to understand what this Chinatown is.” – Lauren Yee
About the author: Priya Chhaya is the associate director of content at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Special Thanks to Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia for their production photos of King of the Yees which ran September 12-October 22, 2023.
Additional Credits for King of the Yees:
Written by Lauren Yee. Directed by Jennifer Chang. Scenic Design by Tanya Orellana, Costume Design by Helen Q. Huang, Lighting Design by Minjoo Kim, Sound Design and Original Music by Matthew M. Nielson. Fight Choreographer was Casey Kaleba, Magic Consultant was Dominik Krzanowski, Accent Coach was Joy Lanceta Coronel, Lion Dance Coaching was Chua Martial Arts. Casting by Jorge Acevedo.
Reinvigorating San Francisco’s Chinatown (Google Arts & Culture)
Learn more about the National Trust for Historic Preservation's America's Chinatowns initiative.
