Page 8
January 25, 2023
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
Young Americans kicks off at Portland Center Stage
Preview
performances
set to begin
February 11
Portland Center Stage presents
the newest play from one of the
most exciting playwrights in the
country — the world premiere of
Lauren Yee’s Young Americans,
directed by Desdemona Chiang.
Commissioned by PCS, Young
Americans takes audiences on
two road trips, traveling to and
from Portland, 20 years apart.
Young Americans begins preview
performances on February 11,
opens on February 17, and runs
through March 26 in the Ellyn
Bye Studio. Young Americans is
a co-production with Pittsburgh
Public Theater. Tickets are on
sale now.
Yee is a powerhouse play-
wright who continues to rank
among the top-produced play-
wrights in the country. Prior to
the pandemic closures, Yee was
World Premiere of Lauren Yee’s Young Americans
slated to have 18 productions of
her plays showing at regional the-
aters across the country. PCS’s
production of this play is espe-
cially meaningful, not only be-
cause the play was commissioned
by PCS, but because it will finally
be making its world premiere af-
ter initially being postponed due
to the COVID shutdown.
Among the many accolades
from the press, Yee’s work has
been hailed as “profoundly as-
tonishing,” “whip-smart and very
funny,” “thoroughly compelling,”
and “exceptionally entertaining.”
The Chicago Tribune called Yee
“a talented, smart, and very funny
writer.” DC Metro Theater Arts
has said that her work “will have
you laughing and thinking. It will
linger in my memory for weeks
and months to come.” Performink
called her work “brilliant,” saying
that “the ebb and flow of her sto-
rytelling is a joy ride, packed with
humor and a self-awareness that
embraces the audience.”
While Yee was working with
PCS on the development of Young
Americans, she spoke about the im-
portance of supporting new work:
“Every masterpiece out there, every
piece of art that you love and that
you accept as cannon was once a
new piece. It was once a new play,
it was a new musical, it was some-
thing that hadn't existed before, and
was brought into the world by art-
ists who hoped that it may become
something new and add something
to the conversation. We need to con-
tinue exploring who we are in this
moment and think about what else
we want to add to that cannon.”
ABOUT THE PLAY
This hilarious, heartfelt new
play veers back and forth in time
as it takes audiences on two road
trips, across two generations.
In one, immigrants Jenny and
Joe drive from the East Coast to
Portland, OR, trying to connect
as a newly engaged couple. 20
years later, Joe and their adopted
daughter, Lucy, set out on a simi-
lar cross-country adventure. With
some unexpected detours along
the way, Jenny and Joe traverse
the strange territory of their new
country, while their daughter,
Lucy, pieces together their bitter-
sweet family history. This beauti-
ful comedy offers a fresh look at a
U.S. road trip through the lens of
the immigrant experience. Yee ex-
plores what home and belonging
mean to those in transition — and
the lengths we will go to for the
people we love.