The Shipment and Lear

Young Jean Lee

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781559366663
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Teatro americano

“A subversive, seriously funny new theater piece by the adventurous playwright Young Jean Lee.... Ms. Lee does not shy away from prodding the audience’s racial sensitivities—or insensitivities—in a style that is sometimes sly and subtle, sometimes as blunt as a poke in the eye.”—Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

“Lee is a facetious provocateur; she does whatever she can to get under our skins—with laughs and with raw, brutal talk... [and with] so ingenious a twist, such a radical bit of theatrical smoke and mirrors, that we are forced to confront our own preconceived notions of race.”—Hilton Als, The New Yorker

With The Shipment, her latest work taking on identity politics, Young Jean Lee “confirms herself as one of the best experimental playwrights in America” ( Time Out New York ). The Korean American theater artist has taken on cultural images of black America, in a play that begins with sketches of African American clichés—an angry, foul-mouthed comedian; an aspiring young rapper who ends up in prison—and ends with a seemingly naturalistic parlor comedy, which slyly reveals the larger game Lee is playing, leaving us to consider the many ways that we see the world through a racial lens.

Young Jean Lee is a playwright, director, and artistic director of her own OBIE Award-winning theater company, which as been producing her plays since 2003. Her other works include Songs of Dragons Flying to Heaven, Church, The Appeal, and Pullman, WA, and they have been produced across the country and internationally.

The Shipment

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For Mike Farry

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Production History

The Shipment premiered in January 2009 at The Kitchen in New York City. It was co-commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University and The Kitchen, and produced by Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company (Young Jean Lee, Artistic Director; Caleb Hammons, Producing Director). It was written and directed by Young Jean Lee. It was produced by Caleb Hammons. The set design was by David Evans Morris, the lighting design was by Mark Barton, the costume design was by Roxana Ramseur, the sound design was by Matthew Tierney and the choreography was by Faye Driscoll. It was performed by:

DANCER 2, SIDEKICK MICHAEL, CRACKHEAD JOHN, BAD COP 2, SASHAY, OMAR	Mikéah Ernest Jennings
DANCER 1, DRUG DEALER DESMOND, RECORD COMPANY EXECUTIVE, SINGER 2, DESMOND	Prentice Onayemi
RAPPER OMAR, SINGER 3, MICHAEL	Okieriete Onodowan
STAND-UP COMEDIAN, GRANDPA JOE, PAUL THE EXTREME, BAD COP 1, THOMAS	Douglas Scott Streater
MAMA, DRUG DEALER MAMA, VIDEO HO, GRANDMA FROM HEAVEN, SINGER 1, THOMASINA	Amelia Workman
STAGEHAND 1	Joseph John
STAGEHAND 2	Foteos Macrides

An earlier version of The Shipment premiered in 2008 at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, with the same production team. It was performed by:

DANCER 2, SIDEKICK MICHAEL, CRACKHEAD JOHN, BAD COP 2, SASHAY, OMAR	Mikéah Ernest Jennings
DANCER 1, DRUG DEALER DESMOND, RECORD COMPANY EXECUTIVE, SINGER 2, DESMOND	Prentice Onayemi
RAPPER OMAR, SINGER 3, THOMAS	Jordan Barbour
STAND-UP COMEDIAN, GRANDPA JOE, PAUL THE EXTREME, BAD COP 1, MICHAEL	Douglas Scott Streater
MAMA, DRUG DEALER MAMA, VIDEO HO, DENISE, WENDY, GRANDMA FROM HEAVEN, SINGER 1, THOMASINA	Amelia Workman
STAGEHAND 1	Edward Hawkins
STAGEHAND 2	Joe McCutcheon

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Author’s Note

The show is divided into two parts. The first half is structured like a minstrel show—dance, stand-up routine, sketches, and a song—and I wrote it to address the stereotypes my cast members felt they had to deal with as black performers. Our goal was to walk the line between stock forms of black entertainment and some unidentifiable weirdness to the point where the audience wasn’t sure what they were watching or how they were supposed to respond. The performers wore stereotypes like ill-fitting paper-doll outfits held on by two tabs, which denied the audience easy responses (illicit pleasure or self-righteous indignation) to racial clichés and created a kind of uncomfortable, paranoid watchfulness in everyone. The second half of the show is a relatively straight naturalistic comedy. I asked the actors to come up with roles they’d always wanted to play and wrote the second half of the show in response to their requests.

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A bare stage. Stark lights. Ominous white noise in the background.

Sudden lights down.

Sound of footsteps.

Sound of shoes clattering against the floor as Dancer 1 begins his dance in the dark.

A rock song—Semisonic’s “F.N.T.”—begins.

Lights up on Dancer 1 mid-jump, his arms and legs sprawling. He is wearing a black tuxedo with a white shirt, black suspenders, black cummerbund, and black bow tie.

Dancer 1 performs a series of bordering-on-goofy choreographed moves that are unidentifiable in genre. Occasionally we’ll see a flash of possible minstrel reference—a gesture, a bit of footwork. Sometimes Dancer 1 is smiling, sometimes not. It’s difficult to tell what his relationship is to what he’s doing and to the audience.

Dancer 2 enters and watches Dancer 1, looking bemused. He is wearing a black suit, white shirt, flowered vest, red tie, black flower lapel brooch, and white shoes.

He starts to shake violently, still smiling. The two Dancers take turns doing herky-jerky movements and then flail wildly back and forth across the stage, sometimes syncing up to flail in unison. It’s reminiscent of a tap routine, except that neither of them has any coordination and they look as if they are about to fall.

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They break out of the flailing and walk in a square pattern around the perimeter of the stage, stopping downstage to stare at the audience. Then they move upstage to do a partner dance that involves Dancer 2 shaking violently in place while Dancer 1 twirls around him, grabbing hold of Dancer 2’s stiff, jerking hands as he dips and spins.

For the big finish, both Dancers take turns doing fancy spins with their arms out. Dancer 1 breaks the pattern to do a goofy little jump. Dancer 2 does an even goofier move. Dancer 1 runs up to the back wall and touches it with his butt. Dancer 2 follows suit. Both Dancers push themselves off the back wall and collapse onto the floor downstage, standing up crookedly to do a little half-smiling hat-tip to the audience before walking offstage.

“F.N.T.” lyrics:

Fascinating new thing
You delight me
And I know you’re speaking of me

Fascinating new thing
Get beside me,
I want you to love me

I’m surprised that you’ve never been told before
That you’re lovely and you’re perfect
And that somebody wants you

Fascinating new thing
The scene makin’
Want a temporary savior

Fascinating new thing
Don’t betray them
By becoming familiar

I’m surprised that you’ve never been told before
That you’re lovely and you’re perfect
And that somebody wants you

I’m surprised that you’ve never been told before
That you’re priceless and you’re precious
Even when you are not new.

I’m surprised that you’ve never been told before
That you’re lovely and you’re perfect
And that somebody wants you

I’m surprised that you’ve never been told before
That you’re priceless
Yeah, you’re holy
Even when you are not new

Fascinating new thing (fascinating new thing)
Fascinating new thing (fascinating new thing)
Fascinating new thing (fascinating new thing)
Fascinating new thing (fascinating new thing).

(A rap song, Lil Jon’s “I Don’t Give a Fuck,” begins as the dance ends.)

ANNOUNCER (Into offstage mike): (Name of city!)

Please put cho mothafuckin’ hands together for the one, the only, (Name of actor playing Stand-Up Comedian!)

(Stand-Up Comedian runs onstage to the music. He is wearing a black tux with a white shirt and skinny black tie.

He stops downstage left and mimes having sex doggy style while facing the audience. He mimes wiping his imaginary partner’s crotch from the rear, smells his fingers, makes a disgusted face, and kicks her away as he goes into a “superman” dance move.

He runs downstage center, turns his back to the audience, looks coyly over ...