San Francisco Playhouse Presents THE SONG OF THE SUMMER By Lauren Yee

San Francisco Playhouse presents The Song of Summer by Lauren Yee, directed by Bill English. The play marks the company's second in-person production since the coronavirus pandemic began, following Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata.

The show will also be available as an on-demand video stream for audiences to enjoy at home. In-person performances at 450 Post Street will take place July 20 through August 14, 2021, with reduced audience capacity. The on-demand video stream will be available July 24 through August 14, 2021.

The cast features Riley Cheng, Anne Darragh*, Riley Hashimoto, Monica Ho*, Jeremy Kahn*, and Reggie D. White*.

"I can think of no better way to usher in the summer of 2021 than with The Song of Summer, the uplifting comedy by Lauren Yee, one of our favorite playwrights," said Bill English, Artistic Director. "Lauren offers a complex, nuanced view of her characters and encourages us all to look within and be true to ourselves."

Each summer, there's a song on every playlist, radio station, and wedding dance floor; that inescapable earworm that everyone hums on the way to work-the Song of Summer. This year, that song belongs to Robbie, but his unexpected pop superstardom is far more than he can handle. When he sneaks away from a sold-out tour to return to his childhood home, Robbie must reconnect with his past and find his authentic self. The Song of Summer is a harmonious and hilarious romantic comedy about how revisiting the past can change our future.

Access to the performance's limited seating will be provided to subscribers free of charge. In-person tickets ($30-$100) will be available for purchase starting June 29, 2021, along with on-demand video tickets ($15 - $100) that are valid throughout the show's run.

Lauren Yee is a playwright, screenwriter, and TV writer born and raised in San Francisco. She currently lives in New York City. Her CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND, with music by Dengue Fever and others, premiered at South Coast Rep, with subsequent productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Victory Gardens, City Theatre, Merrimack Rep, and Signature Theatre. Her play THE GREAT LEAP has been produced at Denver Center, Seattle Rep, Atlantic Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Arts Club, InterAct Theatre, Steppenwolf, Pasadena Playhouse/East West Players, and Cygnet Theatre. Lauren Yee's play KING OF THE YEES premiered at The Goodman Theatre and Center Theatre Group, followed by productions at ACT Theatre, Canada's National Arts Centre, and Baltimore Center Stage. Other plays include CHING CHONG CHINAMAN (Pan Asian Rep, Mu Performing Arts), THE HATMAKER'S WIFE (Playwrights Realm, Moxie, PlayPenn), HOOKMAN (Encore, Company One), IN A WORD (Young Vic, SF Playhouse, Cleveland Public, Strawdog), SAMSARA (Victory Gardens), THE SONG OF SUMMER (Trinity Rep, Mixed Blood), and THE TIGER AMONG US (Mu). She is the winner of the Doris Duke Artist Award, the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Horton Foote Prize, the Kesselring Prize, the ATCA/Steinberg Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award, and the Francesca Primus Prize. She has been a finalist for the Edward M. Kennedy Prize and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her plays were the #1 and #2 plays on the 2017 Kilroys List. Lauren is a Residency 5 playwright at Signature Theatre, New Dramatists member (class of 2025), Ma-Yi Writers' Lab member, former Princeton University Hodder fellow, and Playwrights Realm alumni playwright. TV: PACHINKO (Apple), SOUNDTRACK (Netflix). Current commissions include Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Second Stage, South Coast Rep. BA: Yale. MFA: UCSD. www.laurenyee.com