Review: KING OF THE YEES at Sierra Madre Playhouse

The rather formidable set of red double doors that functions as the primary set piece of KING OF THE YEES certainly serves their practical and metaphorical purpose. At various points in Lauren Yee's quasi-autobiographical play, those portals do their job of keeping some people out and trapping others inside. Among the trap-ees: the playwright herself. This is, of course, 12 kinds of ironic since Lauren Yee is the play's central character, and - because she is a Yee - the person with the power to control those doors. But as her on-stage persona comes to realize during this magical two hours of self-discovery, Lauren Yee is also an outsider.

So are we all, but being on the outside has rarely been so much fun. As directed by Tim Dang for the Sierra Madre Playhouse, KING OF THE YEES is a comedy and a quest, a Caroll-ian plunge through and into Chinatown led by a sure-handed guide who is seeking some penetrating answers. The author of the hit plays CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND and THE GREAT LEAP is a rock star, and this gem from 2017, staged with all kinds of finesse at SMP, is a winner.

Created as an off-kilter play-within-a-play, KING OF THE YEES opens with an actor (played by Miley Yamamoto), introducing herself as the playwright Lauren Yee and her father, Larry Yee (Christopher Chen), the self-professed "King of the Yees." Larry is the patriarch who presides over the fading Yee Fung Toy Family Association, a venerable business in San Francisco's Chinatown that appears to cater largely to people named Yee.

We're about 10 minutes into an explanation of Yee family lore when the real Larry Yee (Dennis Dun) crashes the play, followed by his exasperated daughter, the playwright (Harmony Zhang). Geniality personified, Larry apologizes for the disruption, kibitzes with the actor playing him, brings people out of the audience who he assumes are Yees (or at least honorary Yees) and proceeds to derail the play. It's never entirely clear what this business does or what role Larry plays. We learn he has worked for the phone company and, whenever possible, he stumps faithfully for the politician, Leland Yee, to whom Larry is not related.

Lauren Yee may have envisioned the play she is writing as a two-hander, but her father insists that any tale set in around Chinatown has to include much more. So it falls to an exasperated Lauren to get things back under control while simultaneously figuring out some important truths about herself and her heritage. And, along the way, her father disappears, and Lauren has to locate him. KING OF THE YEES resists a facile synopsis. It's decidedly kooky and also quite magical, what with Lion Dances, Sichuan Face Changers, ehru players, and Model Ancestors coming in to help Lauren Yee on her journey.

While sidelined, the two actors who we met at the outset spend their downtime debriefing and chatting about the state of being an API performer. They're not exactly plot-essential, but Chen and Yamamoto generate some real comic fire in these interludes, particularly with Chen schooling Yamamoto about how to come across as being more authentically Chinese: "you're still running from the Japanese bombs... as the weight of all your ancestors is on the lower part of your diaphragm... and the expectations of your unborn ABC children are pressing down on the back of your throat." The production's fifth actor, Tom Dang, is solid in a variety of roles both comic and menacing.

The father-daughter interplay established by Zhang and Dun is equally strong. Small and vaguely elfin, Dun brings out Larry Yee's considerable charisma while also showing how a guy like this could quite easily drive his daughter nuts. Zhang's Lauren is self-assured but not a know-it-all; she wants to find the answers.

As do we. Larry Yee may be the sovereign of the title, but this is actually Lauren Yee's story. As she chases through a Chinatown that she doesn't recognize, in search of a father she is afraid to actually know, Lauren Yee has to exhibit her ignorance and vulnerability. A can-do Harmony Zhang keeps us in her corner at every crazy turn and the play's emotional climax is fully earned.

Small though the company may be, productions at the Sierra Madre Playhouse often have more resources behind them than might be expected, and KING OF THE YEES is every bit in their wheelhouse. Director Tim Dang (the longtime artistic director of East West Players) and his production team makes outstanding use of their technical resources (including a couple from the play's original co-production between The Goodman Theatre and Center Theatre Group). In addition to the first-rate cast, credit to set and projection designer Ye-Chien Lee, costume designer Jojo Siu and lighting designer Derek Jones for delivering a physical production of which even a details-sweater like Larry Yee would be proud.

KING OF THE YEES plays through June 12 at 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. Tickets: https://www.sierramadreplayhouse.org/.

Photo of Harmony Zhang and Tom Dang by Robert Velasco

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