Photo Flash: Inside A.C.T.'s THE GREAT LEAP

Below check out brand-new production photos from Lauren Yee's The Great Leap, performing at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater now through Sunday, March 31, 2019.

When a college basketball team from San Francisco is invited to China for an exhibition game in 1989, a smack-talking American coach prepares to take on his protégé-now grown and bent on crushing the Westerners. But after a public high school star from Chinatown joins the American team, his actions in Beijing become the accidental focus of attention, escalating the fractured history between the coaches. Funny, urgent, and contemporary, this slam dunk of a sports drama from Yee-developed at A.C.T.'s New Strands Festival in 2017-explores cultural identity, global politics, and the collision of cultures and generations. Under the direction of two-time Obie Award winner Lisa Peterson, The Great Leap soars through time and leaps across continents from the hardball courts of San Francisco's Chinatown to a Beijing on the brink of a revolution, building tension right up to the buzzer.

Following rave reviews and audience acclaim in The Great Leap at off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company this past spring, Tony Award winner and San Francisco native BD Wong (The Orphan of Zhao at A.C.T.; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) reprises his role as "Wen Chang." Joining him are (in alphabetical order) Arye Gross(ABC's Castle; Wild Oats at South Coast Repertory Theatre) as "Saul," Tim Liu (A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; Incident at Hidden Temple at Pan Asian Repertory Theatre) as "Manford," and Ruibo Qian (Bull in a China Shop at Lincoln Center Theater; Water by the Spoonful at The Old Globe) as "Connie."

Tickets are available by calling 415-749-2228 or visiting www.act-sf.org.

Photo Credit: Kevin Berne