“He went to China for basketball but quickly finds himself playing a very different game.”
Picture this …
“It’s 1989 San Francisco and Manford Lum, a gifted, fast-talking teenager, dominates the high school basketball courts …
“Facing an uncertain future, he convinces Saul, a cynical and crusty coach, to let him travel to Beijing for a ‘friendship’ game in China. Waiting there is a Chinese national coach with unfinished business, both with Saul and with Manford …
“On the eve of historic demonstrations, all three men are challenged to define their pasts and their futures.”
That’s the setting of the Great Leap by Lauren Yee, which “follows Manford Lum, who makes a place for himself as part of the University of San Francisco basketball team traveling to Beijing” and “is inspired by Yee’s father’s experiences traveling to China to take part in these friendship games.”
The play is “set in 1989 against the rising demonstrations for political and economic reform in Tiananmen Square” and “explores the intersection of cultural identity and politics through basketball.”
The team behind the show has compiled a page with relevant background that’s worth checking out before going to see Yee’s play at the Lyric Stage.
More info and tickets here
Dawn Martin is a Native Bostonian, Dawn enjoys living and playing in the city. Covering lifestyle, she enjoys writing about restaurants and what’s happening in the city she loves.
