VIDEO: Young Jean Lee On Bringing STRAIGHT WHITE MEN To Los Angeles

"Being a straight white man is a relatively new thing, historically, says playwright Young Jean Lee. "For years, they got to be the default human. And now, suddenly, they're being slapped with labels, and they hate it. So it's sort of approaching a timeless question from a slightly different perspective."

The Brooklyn-based, Obie-winning playwright/director has become well-known in theatre circles for non-traditional works about identity politics such as THE UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW and THE SHIPMENT, but when her STRAIGHT WHITE MEN premiered last season at The Public Theater, what grabbed so much attention was that there was so much about it that replicated traditional commercial drama; a naturalist play about straight white men.

As STRAIGHT WHITE MEN makes its west coast debut at Centre Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, Lee tells the Los Angeles Times that the idea for the play originated with the question, "What do we want straight white men to do that they're not doing? And what happens when they do that?"

A Christmas story, father-son drama, the piece is set at the home of a liberal-leaning, widowed father who gathers for the holiday with his three sons. Over the three-day visit, the characters explore the play's central question: How can these four individuals lead a moral life given the privilege they share as straight white men?

Click here for the full article.

Visit centertheatregroup.org

In this video created for The Public Theatre's production, Lee talks about an interesting experience regarding racial identity that she experiences during the writing process.