Theater Reviews + Features | Pittsburgh City Paper: By forcing herself to explore subjects she'd rather not, and using theatrical forms that discomfit her, playwright Young Jean Lee pushes her work in fascinating directions. Previous touring shows by the Brooklyn-based Lee have addressed Korean-American stereotyping (Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven) and, in the searing The Shipment, racism.
"I have a tendency to be somewhat apolitical, and so I tend to do a lot of political work," says Lee in a phone interview.
4 comments:
I saw this show this weekend and I read many reviews before I attended and I must say that I was left wanting more. What Young Jean Lee describes as her aim and what I experienced were two different things. I enjoyed and appreciated that the women were naked and free and happy and comfortable. However, I feel that she established that in the first 5 minutes of the performance and what came after for the next 55 minutes was just a repetitive exaggeration of the first 5 minutes. I just feel that they were so many stronger improvs that could have dealt and shown how women can be women than what was chosen. However the audience loved it. People were moved and touched. I guess Lee achieved her aim. If one person is affected by your work then it had an impact. I however was left wanting more.
I haven't seen the production, but it sounds very empowering to women. I can understand Jamila's point in that there was too much repetitive exaggeration. However, I think the parasol idea is really cool. Lee takes something so feminine and turns it into a deadly, masculine machine. Also, I love how the women are in the nude. So many girls and women absolutely hate their bodies. If you are bigger than a size 4, you are looked on as fat in high school. Just seeing women at peace with their bodies is something beautiful. But I can see how this can get tiring. After five minutes, one would get the idea. Perhaps it would be interesting to bring men into the scene to give contrast or a conflict that the women have to deal with.
I appreciate artists like Young Jean Lee, who are boundless enough to touch on topics that probably won't make their productions "mainstream", but will serve a positive purpose to people (in this case women who may be insecure about their weight, or the way they look in comparison to women who are portrayed to be "beautiful" in today's media). I believe that this is what Art is all about, bringing things to light, disturbing the comfortable and comforting the disturbed.
With all of that being said, I hope that Lee accomplished her goal in this production, and that women were empowered by this as was Lee's intention.
I commend Young Jean Lee for taking a chance with something that could be seen as controversial and that might deter audiences simply because of the fact that the performers are naked. As a female and as someone who has struggled with eating disorders and body image issues, I think this is an extremely important issue and I am really happy that she specifically chose women with "normal" bodies, and not only those that are the "ideal," as are most often depicted in film and theater in today's society. The idea of the women's joy being what empowers them, rather than their looks or aggression, is empowering in itself. I hope that I get to see this show, and that others (of both genders) will be open to experiencing it as well.
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