The Shipment

Cast: 1f 6m doubling

Performing rights not held by Nick Hern Books

First Staged:
The Kitchen, New York City, 2009

The Shipment

By Young Jean Lee

The Shipment is a provocative look at African-American identity in today's not-quite post-racial society.

Not afraid to tackle thorny issues of race and religion, Young Jean Lee is New York’s most adventurous downtown playwright. She began by setting herself the most uncomfortable challenge she could imagine: to make, as a Korean-American, a work about African-American identity and politics.

Developed in collaboration with an all-black cast, this biting satire invites audiences on a rollercoaster ride through the assumptions, clichés and distortions that arise when exploring the experience of African-Americans today.

Cultural caricatures, from a foul-mouthed comedian to a drug dealer-turned-rapper superstar, are parodied in a series of variety numbers reminiscent of a minstrel show.

Press Quotes

'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.'

New York Times

Also by Young Jean Lee:

Lear
The Shipment and Lear: two plays
We're Gonna Die
Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven and Other Plays
Straight White Men & Untitled Feminist Show: two plays

Go to author page...

Similar Titles
A mock documentary that puts Hwang himself centre-stage as he uses the controversy over colour-blind casting for ...
An urgent play about the senseless killing of a black schoolboy, from one of the most distinctive voices in contempor...
A funny and tender drama that explores how even if you live on the brink, destiny can have a way of surprising you.