The Obie-winning playwright brings her play to Chicago
Renowned experimental theater group Steppenwolf are kicking off their 2017 season with a Chicagoan premiere black comedy by Obie Award-winning playwright Young Jean Lee that peels back social privilege and personal identity. First staged at New York's Public Theater in November 2016, Jean Lee's surprisingly conventional play marks a stark departure from her more eclectic efforts such as Church and We're Gonna Die, winning broad praise from critics across the Big Apple.
Meet family patriarch Ed. Hosting his three adult sons over the Christmas holidays, they all revel in acting like the men they wish to be; trash-talking, drinking, playing tricks on each other and consuming copious amounts of Chinese takeout food. However their happy revelry comes to an abrupt end when their conversations move to something more serious; the question of their success as straight white males and the privilege their late, liberal mother encouraged them to recognize from an early age. Rather than attacking the characters, Jean Lee's sympathetic exploration of masculinity asks us to walk in their shoes.