Flight of a Legless Bird, a new play by senior Ethan Luk at Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center

Flight of a Legless Bird, written by Princeton senior Ethan Luk, follows and braids the lives of Robin and Leslie, two queer artists, from the 1980s to the 2000s. Robin, a filmmaker in New York’s West Village, confronts the reality of a HIV/AIDS diagnosis; Leslie, an accomplished Cantopop star and actor, grapples with his personal hurdles and newfound fame in Hong Kong. Robin and Leslie’s worlds collide by chance, establishing an emotional bond between the two men that defies time and space. Fusing multiple languages, geographies, and temporalities, the play’s fictional intertwining reflects a desire to forge new queer mythologies and connections, while probing the fraught relationship between art-making and times of societal crisis. Directed by Luk in collaboration with retired Program in Theater faculty member R.N. Sandberg. Parts of the play are in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English; non-English sections of the play will be translated to English via supertitles. A post-show conversation will take place following the April 6 performance focusing on intergenerational queer mentorship with Tony Award-winning and former Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop James Nicola, and Director of Education and Community Engagement at New York Theatre Workshop Alexander Santiago-Jirau, moderated by Ethan Luk. Content Advisory: This production contains mentions and discussions of homophobia; mentions and discussions of suicide; depictions of mental illness (including depression); and depictions of physical violence and intimacy. Flight of a Legless Bird was developed in collaboration with New York Theater Workshop’s Mind the Gap Program, CHUANG Stage, PAO Arts Center, and Asian American Theater Artists of Boston (AATAB).