© 2024 KALW 91.7 FM Bay Area
KALW Public Media / 91.7 FM Bay Area
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

King of the Yees - FURY - Edward Albee’s ‘Seascape’ - Mostly British Film Festival

Jessica Palopoli

This week on Open Air, KALW’s radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, host David Latulippe talks with actor Francis Jue and playwright Lauren Yee about the production of King of the Yeesat SF Playhouse. The play is set in and around San Francisco’s Chinatown, and was inspired by Yee’s family and their deep connections within the community.

Playwright Lauren Yee, who was born and raised in San Francisco, currently lives in New York City. King of the Yees is about her father, Larry, who has been a driving force in the Yee Family Association, a seemingly obsolescent Chinese American men’s club formed 150 years ago in the wake of the Gold Rush. When her father goes missing, Lauren must plunge into the rabbit hole that is Chinatown and confront a world that is both foreign and familiar. 

King of the Yees runs through March 2 at SF Playhouse (450 Post St.) in San Francisco. 

We talk to producer Kate Duhamel and Yassou band member James Jackson about FURY, an immersive concert/dance experience which combines the music of indie-pop band Yassou and string composer Kristina Dutton, with dancers from two world-class ballet companies, the San Francisco Ballet and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. 

FURY is inspired by the movie Mad Max - Fury Road, the 2015 post-apocalyptic action film by director George Miller. Performances of FURY are on February 1 and 2 at August Hall (420 Mason St.) in San Francisco; the show will be going on tour to Los Angeles afterwards. 

Also joining us in the studio is A.C.T.’s new artistic director Pam McKinnon. She currently makes her directorial debut at the company with Edward Albee’s Seascape. This is her 11th Edward Albee production; In 2013 she won the Tony Award for her production of Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Seascape, Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play (1975), is a wildly imaginative and satirical comedy in which a newly retired couple picnic and squabble on a beach about their life together, when they are interrupted by two human-sized, English-speaking lizards. Performances run through February 17 at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater (450 Geary St.) in San Francisco. 

Plus, Open Air’s regular contributor and critic at large, Peter Robinson, previews the Mostly British Film Festival, which offers over 25 movies from countries around the English-speaking world such as the United Kingdom, Australia, India and Ireland. 

The festival opens on February 14 with The White Crow, directed by Ralph Fiennes, about Russian ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev, from his humble beginnings in Siberia to his life-changing visit to France as part of the Kirov Ballet. 

The Mostly British Film Festival runs through February 21. 

Open Air with host David Latulippe; heard live on Thursday, January 31, at 1pm. Listen now or anytime…