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THE GREAT LEAP To Open At The Hangar Theater This Month

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THE GREAT LEAP To Open At The Hangar Theater This Month

The Hangar Theater has announced the opening of The Great Leap, previewing August 10 and running through August 20, on a street basketball court built inside the Hangar Theatre on the Niederkorn Stage.

An award-winning play by Lauren Yee, The Great Leap tells a story about family and the immigrant experience in American sports through fast-paced, witty dialogue, is not to be missed. The Great Leap imagines the fictionalized circumstances of a friendship basketball games pitting Beijing University against the University of San Francisco in China in the late 1980s, and the relationship between two rival coaches and an ambitious young basketball player from the neighborhood. This athletic political play combines the personal with the historical, in a story inspired by the short-lived basketball career of the playwright's own father.

The production is appropriate for ages 12 and up and includes some adult language.

The Great Leap is the fourth Mainstage production of the Hangar Theatre's 2022 season following School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play, Cabaret, and Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812.

The four members of The Great Leap cast include Ray Yamamoto who is featured as the hot-headed basketball star Manford, Norman Garcy Yap* as Wen Chang, the coach of the Beijing University Team, Jim Shankman* as Saul, coach of the University of San Francisco team, and Eileen Doan* as Connie, Manford's cousin and a UC Berkeley Grad student. Casting in conjunction with Michael Cassara, Casting Director.

Joining Natsu Onoda Power on the artistic team are Anita Stewart†, Set Designer, Nicole Wee†, Costume Designer, Alberto Segarra†, Lighting Designer, Kathy Ruvuna, Sound Designer, and Dylan Uremovich, Projections Designer.

Ticket Information

Student discounts and Pay-What-You-Will tickets are available for every performance of The Great Leap. Learn more or buy now at hangartheatre.org/the-great-leap

For tickets or more information about the rest of the Hangar's 2022 Mainstage Season, please call 607.273.2787, or visit hangartheatre.org.

Photo: Ray Yamamoto as Manford, Jim Shankman* as Saul, and Eileen Doan as Connie in The Great Leap.








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