Written by LAUREN YEE ISSUE 01 CO-PRODUCTION
The Artistic Perspective , hosted by Artistic Director Anita Stewart, is an opportunity for audience members to delve deeper into the themes of the show through conversation with special guests. A different scholar, visiting artist, playwright, or other expert will join the discussion each time. The Artistic Perspective discussions are held after the first Sunday matinee performance.
HannaH Cordes, Paula Vogel, anita stewart, and todd Brian BaCkus in a talkBaCk, Portland stage ComPany.
PlayNotes 2 The GreaT Leap
Join us for a Book Club-style Page to Stage with the Portland Public Library. Check out your copy of the script and join us two weeks before previews of each Mainstage Production. Scripts are available at the reference desk at the Main Branch of the Portland Public Library. This year discussions will be held in the Rines Room at 1:30pm two weeks before a show opens. Feel free to come and chat about the plays with Literary Manager, Todd Brian Backus; his Directing and Dramaturgy Apprentices, and special guests. Visit portlandlibrary.com/programs-events/ for more information.
Allperformance.discussions
are free and open to the public. Show attendance is not required. To subscribe to a discussion series performance, please call the Box Office at 207.774.0465.
Curtain Call discussions offer a rare opportunity for audience members to talk about the production with the performers. Through this forum, the audience and cast explore topics that range from the process of rehearsing and producing the text to character development to issues raised by the work Curtain Call discussions are held after the second Sunday matinee
Discussion Series
Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust George & Cheryl Higgins Susie Konkel
Contributors
Adam Thibodeau
Copy Editor
PlayNotes P3 layNotes
Todd Brian Backus
The Robert & Dorthy Goldberg Foundation
by Lauren Yee
Portland Stage Company Educational Programs, like PlayNotes, are generously supported through the annual donations of hundreds of individuals and businesses, as well as special funding from:
PlayNotes Season 49 Editorial Staff
Macey Downs, Audrey Erickson, Meredith G. Healy, Moira O'Sullivan & Rachel Ropella
Cover Illustration
The Onion Foundation
Cody Brackett
Editor in Chief
The Great Leap
Letter from the Editors 5
Portland Stage's The Great Leap About the Play 6
16
Table of ConTenTs 4 The GreaT Leap
Education and Outreach at PSC
27
References On and Off the Court
Digging Deeper
Glossary
Table of Contents
Sports
24 Extras Recommended
26
The Cultural Revolution
Courtside with Stage Manager Myles C. Hatch 10
12
Interview with the Director: Natsu Onoda Power 8
The World of The Great Leap China and Basketball: A Slam Dunk
19
The Legacy of the Tiananmen Square Massacre 22 and Politics Resources
13
About the Characters 7
In this issue, we explore the world of The Great Leap, Lauren Yee’s exploration into basketball, China’s political landscape of the 70’s and 80’s, and defying expectations. This play follows Manford, a high school senior with aspirations towards professional basketball despite his small stature, and the people who coach him on and off court. We explore the historical, cultural, and political world of the play with the articles “The Cultural Revolution” (p. 13), “China and Basketball: NBA Basketball in China” (p. 12), and “The Legacy of the Tiananmen Square Massacre” (p. 22). Hearing some terms you don’t recognize? Head over to articles like “The Great Leap: A Glossary” (pg. 16) and “References On and Off the Court” (pg. 19), where our contributors demystify some of the references and lingo in The Great Leap. In “Sports and Politics” (p. 24), we provide more context for how sports have been used as political theater throughout history. There are also interviews with director Natsu Onoda Power (p. 8), and stage manager Myles C. Hatch (p. 10) to get insight into the creative development of this production.
Dear PlayNotes Readers,
The Portland Stage Literary Department
Meredith G. Healy
Sincerely yours,
Todd Brian Backus
When compiling each issue of PlayNotes, we strive to provide articles and interviews that give you insight into what the process has been like behind the scenes (see articles in “Portland Stage’s The Great Leap”), contain pertinent information about the play’s setting and major themes (“The World of The Great Leap”), and provide deeper dives into specific subjects that compelled our literary department (“Digging Deeper”). We include a list of books, films, plays, and television shows that we hope audiences will access for more cultural content that relates to the play (“Recommended Resources”).
Letter from the editors 5PlayNotes
Rachel Ropella
Moira O’Sullivan
Letter from the Editors
Welcome to the first issue of PlayNotes for the 2022-2023 Season!
Thank you for engaging with a wide range of plays and topics through PlayNotes throughout this past season, and we look forward to seeing you at the theater!
Audrey Erickson
Macey Downs
About the Play
It’s 1989 and Chinese American high schooler, Manford Lum, is desperate to play on the University of San Francisco's basketball team and travel for their friendship game in China next month. Saul Slezac, USF's washed-up basketball coach, at first dismisses Manford because he's 5'5", but is later convinced against his better judgment to let Manford join. Back in 1971, Slezac’s claim to fame was bringing basketball to China on a diplomatic visit. While there, he struck up a tentative friendship with his assigned translator, Wen Chang, who became the Beijing University’s coach. With Wen Chang ready for a rematch against USF, Saul and Manford arrive in a China that’s in the throes of the post-Cultural Revolution era. As the protests in Tiananmen Square grow in intensity and with the eyes of two governments on this highly anticipated game, Manford must navigate tensions as he learns more about his heritage and prepares to play the game of his life. With flashes between 1971 and 1989, The Great Leap examines the cross-cultural collision of politics and identity as well as the courage it takes to defy expectations.
Portland Stage’S the great leaP 6 The GreaT Leap
The Great Leap was first developed and produced by the Denver Center and had a New York premiere with the Atlantic Theatre Company in 2018. This production was co-produced with the Hangar Theatre, who hosted this show this August at their theater in New York’s Finger Lakes region. A 2018 finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, it has been produced at numerous regional theaters, being praised for its dynamic characters and quick wit. Margaret Gray for the LA Times wrote: “The Great Leap lures us in with its humorous focus on ordinary characters— basketball coaches and players—then pans out to locate them in a cataclysmic moment in history, the Tiananmen Square uprising. The effect is dizzying.”
by Rachel Ropella
Jim sHankman (aea) and norman garCy yaP (aea) in the great leap, at tHe Hangar tHeatre and Portland stage ComPany, 2022. PHoto By raCHel PHiliPson.
Name: Ray Yamamoto
Character: Manford Lum
Character: Wen Chang
Name: Eileen Doan
Portland Stage’S the great leaP 7PlayNotes
by Rachel Ropella
Character: Saul Slezac
Name: Jim Shankman (AEA)
17, Chinese American, about to graduate high school in Chinatown. A 5’5” basketball prodigy who talks a mile a minute; he is driven and impulsive.
52, Jewish, the coach of University of San Francisco’s basketball team. Has a toughlove approach to everything in life; he is crass and demanding.
25, Chinese American, Manford’s cousin. A UC Berkeley grad student who has traveled to China before; she is protective and empathetic.
43, Chinese, the coach of Beijing University’s basketball team. Worked his way up in the world by keeping his head down; he is perceptive and methodical.
About the Characters
Character: Connie Fong
Name: Norman Garcy Yap (AEA)
Natsu Onoda Power (NOP): It's so lame, but I've actually been really jealous of sports all my life. Because, reason one, why do people pay so much money to go to sports games, and then they'll complain about $60 theater ticket? You know, people pay hundreds of dollars for primary seats for their favorite team. And whenever I go to the game, there's this great sense of community, great sense of belonging, and enthusiasm. And there's the pregame ritual, they psych themselves up to
RR: I think it's interesting how physical theater can be, but we try to make it so subtle.
NOP: Yeah, but I think in the US, that's the primary mode of theater. I mean, there is certainly theater where we're just marveling at the very special skills of people and things. I’ve tried to incorporate basketball in my work twice before. I got people to train actors to use basketball in choreography, but it didn't go well because actors are trained to act and not to play basketball. Right? So I thought that this play’s adaptation of basketball to verbal actions on stage and within relationships and structure is so ingenious. So it's like I've always been jealous of sports and this play has sort of transformed my jealousy into something that I can embrace.
NOP: And the references in the play are just so smart. I loved it when at the Hangar, there were people who were laughing at every basketball joke. I think it's such a great way to bring the community together in a theater.
Rachel Ropella (RR): The Great Leap is a very athletic play, what was your connection to basketball or sports before you began to direct this show?
Directing and Dramaturgy Apprentice Rachel Ropella spoke with director Natsu Onoda Power before transferring The Great Leap from the Hangar Theatre to Portland Stage. They discuss the portrayal of sports on stage and some of the challenges of directing a co-production.
Interview with the Director: Natsu Onoda Power
Edited for Length and Clarity by Rachel Ropella
RR: I think that makes total sense. I think there’s two different but striking types of performance when it comes to sports and theater. And you're getting the best of both worlds within this piece, because there is physicality, but also the dialogue is so sharp.
natsu onoda Power, direCtor.
Portland Stage’S the great leaP 8 The GreaT Leap
go to the game, and then they celebrate after. So it's a great day of celebration, and the community. And there's a sense that you're making this event together, which I don't see in theater audiences. The second reason that I'm jealous is that it's all about superhuman skills on display, you get to marvel at amazing athleticism and skills and training. And I feel like in theater, we often end up doing a lot of work to make our skills invisible. Like, we paint metal to look like wood, and we paint wood to look like metal. And so we spent all this time making skills invisible. And of course, it's the opposite of that.
NOP: Because the rehearsals were such a fast process in Ithaca, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the actors' relationships with the characters have developed in the few weeks that they've had. It's so interesting, because as a director, you leave on opening night, and then you don't come back. The actors continue to develop their relationship with the characters and with the team, but I never get to be a part of it. And this time, I get to reinsert myself. It's like being away from a circle of friends and when you come back, they have shared events and lives together, and you feel a little bit out of it. But then things pick up, so I'm looking forward
Portland Stage’S the great leaP 9PlayNotes
NOP: Well, luckily, I have a wonderful design team that is the same in both places. And also, I have a wonderful stage manager who's going to be at both. I think stage managers are amazing humans, I rely on them so much, and they're often under appreciated. So I just want to give a shout out to Myles [C. Hatch], who's going to be the glue to hold it all together. There were several challenges. One is that the theater's spaces are set up differently and one of the things that I really embraced at Hanger was characters coming from two entrances from the audience, but we can't do that at Portland. But I hear that the acoustics in Portland are really fantastic. Here, actors will not be miced and at Hangar they were. And I'm not against it, but as soon as you put a mic on actors, there's a slight distance that it automatically creates between the audience and the actor. I'm really excited about the intimacy of natural voices in the theatre.
RR: I know with this co-production, it was originally performed at Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York and now you've moved it here to Portland Stage. At Portland, we have a traditional proscenium stage, but the Hangar has a thrust stage that extends out into the audience. What is it like to rehearse a play, knowing that you must have two theaters with very different stages in mind?
ray yamamoto and eileen doan in the great leap, at tHe Hangar tHeatre and Portland stage ComPany, 2022, PHoto By raCHel PHiliPson.
RR: You really might! While working with this cast again at Portland Stage, what is one moment within the play that you’re excited to revisit with these actors and that you're looking forward to the audience seeing?
RR: So you’ll be in a new space and also get to see the actors for the first time in a while for the same production. What does that feel like?
to that experience on an artistic level. I knew the character of Wen Chang as one person in rehearsal, but because Norm (Garcy Yap) has been spending time with the character by himself, I might now see a different portrayal of Wen Chang.
NOP: It's so predictable, it’s but the second to last scene: the game. When we staged it, we felt that it was so physically challenging- it's really fast. But then by the time we opened, they got it down so well that it didn't seem as challenging. I felt like it was more impressive when they were struggling with it. So I'm excited to up the game of the choreography within the basketball game when we are at Portland Stage!
Courtside with Stage Manager Myles C. Hatch
Moira O'Sullivan (MO): For those who don't know, what does a stage manager do during a production?
MCH: Yeah, so while you're watching the performance, I'm above you in the booth. I am connected [by a headset system] to my people who [operate] the lightboard, the soundboard, the deck chief, the wardrobe people. I'm executing cues, which make everything happen around the actors. I'm calling cues [for] slides and sound and projections, for this one in particular, and some flown scenery
MO: In three words, how would you describe the energy of the rehearsal for this show?
elements, and I'm executing all these cues along with the crew. So when you're watching a show, and you see there are four actors in the show, well, there are five other people besides them that you never see who are making it all happen.
Portland Stage’S the great leaP 10 The GreaT Leap
Edited for Length and Clarity by Moira O'Sullivan
Myles C. Hatch (MCH): The best way I could relate it to people is that they're like a conductor of an orchestra. So you're the person who's making everything happen, making sure that the lights and the sound happen when they're supposed to during the show. You're riding the wave of the performance. The actors are human beings, so they are flexible. They go with a moment and their intentions can change, depending on what they're getting from their fellow actors or the audience. And I'm making all of the different things around them happen in sequence with them, so that you get a full picture. Stage managers are with the production from the very first rehearsal all the way till it closes. So we're the constant, along with the cast. We're keeping an eye on everything to make sure that it all happens the way it's supposed to and that the audience has got a consistent story. You allow for growth, and discovery, but within the parameters of what a director has given for the project.
MO: What's the difference between stagemanaging at the Hangar and here at PSC?
MCH: There are a lot of differences. The Hangar is summer stock, and summer stock theaters are on a much more compressed schedule than regional theaters [like Portland Stage]. So everything's on a very serious timeline, it's all truncated; you don't have as long there as you would here. So time is precious and you really need to get it done quickly. The other difference between the Hangar and here is that [the Hangar has] a three-quarter thrust, which means the actual stage that the actors perform on comes out into the audience. And the audience is on three sides. So the director directed the show there to take into account that you could have people to your left or to your right, and that you constantly need to maneuver yourself so that you give them the best product, the best viewpoint. Here, it's a proscenium stage, which is the concept of a fourth wall. It's a flat front and there's this invisible wall between the audience and the actual end of the stage. It's a different way of perceiving how you would stage it. The actors are very aware of that transition from one style to another, which is the biggest challenge of the whole thing. Our lighting and sound and projection designers were here before the cast got here, to put it all in, and now they're redoing it, tweaking it, making it work for this space.
Directing and Dramaturgy Apprentice Moira O'Sullivan spoke with stage manager Myles C. Hatch about transferring The Great Leap from the Hangar Theatre to Portland Stage.
MCH: Collaborative, supportive, intuitive.
MO: During the show, you are sitting in the tech booth in the back of the audience. What are you doing in there while they're acting?
MCH: The most challenging part of doing a co-production is that you are working with two different institutions and each institution has its own established ways of working. No two theaters are run exactly the same way. I was actually hired by both the Hangar and Portland Stage together because I'd worked at both theaters. You have to be able to
MO: If your team (the cast and crew of The Great Leap) gave you a nickname on the court, what would it be and why?
walk into a new space, pick up on all the points you need to [know] about how they're going to function: who's really responsible for this aspect, who's really responsible for scheduling, who's really running this department or that department. It's always different. People have different skill sets, so your organization gets put together in a different way. But the fine points, the minutiae of how everybody navigates [a production], the culture that you're walking into, how they all respond to each other, is something that a stage manager has to pick up on right away, and be able to go, “Okay, I see this is how you all work, and this is how you are used to working.”
MCH: The Terminator. Because a part of my focus and job is to help everyone come to the decisions and resolutions that get us to move forward. So I'm terminating all the stuff that we don't need to talk about. Sometimes you get so caught up in something that you're working on, and it's like, “This is not gonna get resolved right now, we’re going to move on because we don't have time for this. Y'all clearly need to think about that.” I’m determined to terminate.
MO: What are you most excited for audiences to experience when they see The Great MCH:Leap?
I'm excited for [them] to see the subject matter. It has many layers to it, but I'm excited to see what they take away from it. Whether it's the historical aspects or the familial relationships or all the revelations that happen through the play, it's always interesting to see, “Oh, they figured it out.” And then that gets their mind going and they're thinking about all these other aspects. So, the show in the end is a cohesive whole of all these wonderful ways to make your synapses fire and think about stuff that you might not have thought about, especially about things in history that happened many years ago.
MO: What's your favorite part of the process?
MO: Are you in charge of keeping track of all those changes? Or reminding them or helping them adjust?
MCH: Yes. They're all depending on me to tell them, “No, it used to be there,” or “Now because you've just changed this, you need to put a new lighting cue between this cue and that cue, because it's no longer going to work.” It's another opportunity for all the artists as a collaborative group to come up with a new vision. It’s about flexibility, being able to adjust on the fly and create a new way of getting from point A to point B, so that the actors and the designers feel like they are creating work that they want to put on this particular stage.
MO: What has been the most challenging part of doing a co-production?
Portland Stage’S the great leaP 11PlayNotes
MCH: My favorite part of the creative process is the actual run of the show. You've gone through a rehearsal where you figured it all out, a tech process where you put it all together, and then once you get the show open, it's that wonderful feeling of a new audience every night coming in to see your production. It's different every night. If you have four actors in the show, the audience is the fifth character; they absolutely inform and influence how that show's going to run. If you've got a crowd full of people who just want to laugh at everything, and think it's all hilarious, that's cool, and totally different from an audience that’s like, “Oh, I really got the nuance of that moment and I'm really thinking about that point in history now.” So, the power of the work to inform, educate, change people's perspective, that's what I really get into. I really enjoy seeing that night after night.
In 1987, after making a deal with NBA commissioner David Stern, China gained broadcasting rights from the NBA and the national basketball obsession grew to new heights. Once NBA games were available, its audience increased and the country became infatuated with players such as Michael Jordan and, later, Shanghai native Yao Ming. In 1994, all NBA finals were shown live in China. Since Chinese Central Television started airing the games, the fanbase has grown to approximately 450 million people. In 2004, the US started bringing their teams to China for exhibition games, for which tickets can currently sell for up to $2,500.
The World of The GreaT leap 12 The GreaT Leap
China and Basketball: A Slam Dunk
Nowadays, basketball is ingrained in popular culture in China, and its influence is seen in the Nike sneakers and team merchandise worn on and off the court. NBA China has partnered with local tech companies and retail outlets. Its popularity online has inspired American marketing campaigns and social media strategies, trying to tap into the success of their Chinese counterparts. The American league’s expansion hinges on China and their enthusiasm for the game, which shows no signs of fading anytime soon.
The Great Leap zooms in on the Chinese basketball scene in the 1970s and 1980s, but basketball’s roots in China are actually far earlier. The game was first introduced to the country in 1895 by YMCA missionaries, merely four years after its creation in Springfield, Massachusetts (current home of the Basketball Hall of Fame). By the 1920s, it was widely adopted by the military as a way to form bonds among soldiers and teach them teamwork and communication. For many years, the best basketball players in the country were members of the military.
When Chairman Mao and the Communist Party took control in 1949, most Western influences, such as books and music, were banned, but basketball was not one of them. Mao strongly felt that the sport was integral to the culture and encouraged people to keep playing. Makeshift hoops appeared throughout neighborhoods as the youth found an alternative to ping pong. College and commercial teams sprung up, offering many young people a chance to connect with their peers, particularly those without siblings due to the one-child policy, a government program introduced in the late 1970s that limited families to one child each in an attempt to slow the rapid population growth in the country.
According to the Chinese Basketball Association, 300 million Chinese people—roughly the population of the entire United States—play basketball. In fact, in 1935, it became a national pastime. Though it may seem surprising, basketball is one of the cornerstones of popular culture in China, so much so that NBA China was formed in 2008. With over 150 million followers on Chinese social media (apps such as WeChat and Weibo), the NBA has found its largest international market.
by Moira O'Sullivan
agricultural base that resulted in famine, millions of deaths, and economic crisis, and he sought ways to reassert his power and status. He feared the party was shifting its values towards capitalism and heading in the same revisionist direction as the Soviet Union, so he gathered a circle of radicals to support his new campaign: the Cultural
During his last decade in power (1966–76), Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong began the Cultural Revolution, known in its full name as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Fearing the direction China was headed in, the revolution aimed to renew the spirit of the Chinese Revolution of 1948, which reunified the Chinese people after two decades of conflict and established communism as the nation’s political structure. Mao’s position within the government had been weakened after the failure of the Great Leap Forward, a campaign aimed at restructuring China’s
PHoto By raCHel PHiliPson
AtRevolution.oddswith
The Cultural Revolution
the direction of the current Communist Party’s goals and searching to regain political capital, Mao and his close circle of radicals focused the new campaign on China’s youth, urging them to eliminate “impure” elements of the party—such as contact with capitalist nations or anticommunist leanings—and bringing back the spirit of the party from the civil war 20 years prior that began the People’s Republic of China and Mao’s reign as party chairman. He shut down all the nation’s schools, and students were instead charged with calling into question current political leaders who lacked “revolutionary spirit” and supported bourgeois values in any way.
The World of The GreaT leap 13PlayNotes
norman garCy yaP (aea) and Jim sHankman (aea) in the great leap, at tHe Hangar tHeatre and Portland stage, 2022.
by Audrey Erickson
In 1971, journalist Tillman Durdin wrote an article for the New York Times outlining the lasting effects of the Cultural Revolution on China; in it, he cites an increased art market, shifts in typical family structure, less individual expression, and, as he put bluntly, “people seem less polite.” While these impacts were major shifts in China at the time, the ripple effect that the Cultural Revolution had on China and its international relations continued for decades later.
President liu sHaoqi.
The World of The GreaT leap 14 The GreaT Leap
illustration of tHe red guard.
In 1969, Mao named Lin his successor. Though Mao had no immediate plans of ceding power, it was the encouragement Lin needed to begin making grabs at power. Claiming that the Soviet military threatened security at the borders, he instituted martial law, a political move that made Mao feel threatened. With distrust sown between Lin and Mao, the latter turned to Premier Zhou Enlai to dismantle Lin’s power. Together, Mao and Zhou restructured the
The youth of China took the campaign seriously, mobilizing and forming the Red Guards, a paramilitary group who policed, publically humiliated, and physically attacked their fellow citizens— particularly intellectuals and the eldery—who didn’t live by Maoist theory, Mao’s doctrine “composed of the ideology and methodology for revolution” that condemned imperialist sentiment. Even within Mao’s supporters, there was infighting amongst groups, with different factions claiming the most accurate interpretations of Mao’s teachings. However, consistent amongst all those who supported Mao’s edicts was the belief that, to achieve Mao’s vision of glory, the Chinese people had to eliminate the Four Olds: old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas. As seen in fascist ideology throughout history, the people were encouraged to tear down the country’s past to make way for what they were assured would be a bright future. The nation, Mao led the people to believe, could not move forward with pure communist values while tangible or cultural reminders of the old order remained.
During the early years of the Cultural Revolution (1966–69), many of China’s major political leaders were beaten, imprisoned, or killed; while Mao remained untouchable, party members who posed political threat, most notably President Liu Shaoqi, were removed from power. With infighting amongst factions of the Red Guard and a considerably deflated system of governmental order, China’s large cities soon reached states of near-anarchy. In September of 1967, Mao was forced to give orders to defense minister Lin Biao to send military troops into the cities to restore order and restrain the mobilized citizen groups. The civil unrest was mitigated by sending some factions of the Red Guard to more rural areas, thus preventing conflict in the cities from escalating. Even with peace temporarily restored, China continued to be an unstable nation as it saw another massive economic dip.
distribution of power in the higher levels of Chinese government to neutralize Lin. In 1971, Lin died in a plane crash in Mongolia, apparently attempting to escape the Soviet Union. One by one, high-ranking members of Lin’s military command were removed, securing Mao’s power once more. The seemingly strategic time of Lin’s passing was a major turning point in the perception of the Cultural Revolution, with citizens becoming disillusioned with the goals of the movement; what had seemed to have started as an attempt to restore the nation’s values now resembled political theater and power
The World of The GreaT leap 15PlayNotes
With 1.5 million people killed and millions more beaten, imprisoned, or humiliated, many had lost faith in the government. The government struggled to regain that trust in light of economic stress and fractured international relations with countries that could have provided aid. The following years sought to stabilize the country, as Deng led with consensus, compromise, and persuasion to implement major reforms in virtually all aspects of China’s political, economic, and social life. Even as strides were made (including China’s historic one-child policy and decentralized economic systems), the impact of the Cultural Revolution was too extreme to leave behind completely; the decade-long period of political upheaval would shape international relations into the 21st century.
Jiang qing and mao Zedong.
Asstruggles.publicsupport
of the movement dwindled, Mao and Zhou soon found themselves unable to lead it. In 1972, Mao suffered a stroke; later that year, Zhou, who had spent the previous couple of years reviving China’s education system and making further attempts to stabilize the nation, learned he had cancer. With few options and a loose hold on power, the two turned their support over to Deng Xiaoping, a political figure who had been purged by the Red Guard with Mao’s support in the early years of the revolution. This decision was highly contested among Mao’s previous radical supporters, including his wife, Jiang Qing. Jiang and her supporters continued to oppose the direction of Mao, Zhou, and Deng, once more creating political tensions as the two sides campaigned for power. Jiang ultimately got her way, with Deng being ousted once more, and Jiang and her radicals assuming power upon Zhou’s death in early 1976. Her victory was short-lived: when Mao passed a mere few months later in September of 1976, Jiang and her supporters were pushed out of government by a force consisting of military, police, and citizens. In 1977, Deng would take power once more, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution and leading China for 20 more years. Restoring China after the years of political and civil unrest, mass violence, and economic disruption was a slow process.
Genghis Khan (1162–1227): Conqueror who consolidated many tribes into a unified Mongolia and continued to take control across China, using massacre and psychological warfare to achieve his goals.
the country to rebel and purge the “impure” elements of the current society.
Capitalist Roader: In Mao Zedong thought, it refers to someone who bows to the pressure of the bourgeois and pulls the revolution in a capitalist direction.
The Great Leap Forward: Chinese campaign from 1958–1960 aimed at accelerating the industrialization of the country by focusing on achieving agricultural and technical growth through manpower and labor instead of
The Cultural Ministry: A department under the state council in China that is responsible for regulating cultural and arts-related policies, guidelines, and the development of arts and entertainment programs. Their headquarters is based in Beijing.
Boosters: People who support a school’s sports team by financially contributing to the athletic department or the sports organization.
by Moira O'Sullivan
Communist Party of China (CPC): The socialist political party that took over rule after the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
The Cultural Revolution: Launched in 1966 by Mao Zedong in order to reassert his power over the Chinese government, which he believed was leading the nation in the wrong direction. He encouraged the youth of
Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997): A leader of the Communist Party who helped bring stability and economic growth back to China after the Cultural Revolution. During the Tiananmen Square protests, he supported using deadly force to suppress the student protesters in Beijing.
Glossary
flag of tHe Communist Party of CHina
Colma: The smallest city in San Mateo County on the San Francisco peninsula in the San Francisco Bay area.
Exhibition Game or Friendship Game: A match that does not impact the team’s rankings and has no prize money involved. Also called a scrimmage, a warm-up game, or a demonstration game. It is an agreement between the two teams to play as practice or for charity.
Division One: NCAA Division One basketball colleges have teams competing at the highest level. Players meet highly competitive recruiting guidelines set by the schools and are among the best in the nation. There are currently 350 Division One basketball schools in the US.
The World of The GreaT leap 16 The GreaT Leap
Chang’an Avenue: One of the most important streets in China, whose name translates to “Eternal Peace.” It runs east to west through the heart of Beijing, bordering Tiananmen Square.
Forbidden City: An imperial complex in Beijing constructed in 1496, during the Ming Dynasty, that served as the political center of China for more than 500 years.
Fuzhou: The capital city of the Fujian province in southeastern China, situated on the north bank of the estuary of Fujian’s largest river, the Min River, a short distance from its mouth on the East China Sea.
a Crowd Holding tHe little red Book uP at a PolitiCal rally.
edition of tHe PeoPle's daily
Mao Zedong (1893-1976): Chairman of the People’s Republic of China from 1949–1959. A Marxist theorist, he led the country in the communist revolution and is often regarded as the visionary of new China.
The World of The GreaT leap 17PlayNotes
The People’s Daily: A state-run newspaper in China, started in 1948, which is published worldwide and features current news and viewpoints from the Chinese Communist Party.
the purchasing of heavy machinery. The abrupt shift from large-scale farming to small farming communes, in addition to a few natural disasters and the loss of support from the Soviets, led to a collapse in the nation’s agriculture industry and a period of great starvation, with 20 million lives lost between 1959 and 1962.
Mikhail 'Mickey' Gorbachev (1931-2022): Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985–1991 known for defusing nuclear tension between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1980s and bringing Eastern Europe out from behind the Iron Curtain.
Mervyn’s: Middle-scale American department store chain (1920–2021) based in Hayward, California, many locations of which were in malls.
Martial Law: The use of the military for law enforcement, involving the suspension of ordinary laws, usually declared during civil unrest or in states of emergency.
The Little Red Book: A Western nickname for Quotations from Chairman Mao Tsetung, published in 1964. It contained over 400 quotes from Mao Zedong’s writings and speeches and was extremely popular during the Cultural Revolution in China. It became a symbol of rebellious and revolutionary youth. Though its content was about communist ideas, publication of the book was halted by the Chinese Communist Party in February, 1979.
Mishpucha: A Yiddish term for an entire family network comprising relatives by blood and marriage.
“Ich bin ein Beijinger, Eleanor Rigby!”: A reference to JFK’s speech in 1963 at the Berlin Wall—“Ich bin ein Berliner,” literally "I am a Berliner."—expressing solidarity with the city and its people at the height of the Cold War. “Eleanor Rigby” is a reference to the 1965 hit Beatles song.
Roster: A list of persons or groups; any list, roll, or register. Used in sports to organize players.
tiananmen square.
Schlemiel: A Yiddish term for an awkward and unlucky person for whom things never turn out right.
tank man PolitiCal Cartoon
West Coast Conference: NCAA Division One athletic conference made up of ten colleges on the West Coast, including the University of San Francisco.
San Francisco Chronicle: Newspaper serving the San Francisco Bay area in California, founded in 1865.
Tank Man Image: The famous photograph of a lone pro-democracy protester at Tiananmen Square blocking the path of the military tanks seeking to take control of the area. Wearing a white collared shirt and black pants, carrying a bag, he stood in the middle of the street in front of the lead tanks. Though no one knows who he was or what became of him, he serves as a strong representation of defiance. Photographed by Jeff Widener for the Associated Press.
Ping-Pong Diplomacy: After Mao’s communist revolution in 1949, the relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China had been tense. But in 1971, Chairman Mao offered a historic invitation to the American table tennis team to visit China and play against their country’s team. This opened new political doors between the counties and was supported by President Nixon.
Tiananmen Square: A public square located in front of the Forbidden City that is well-known for the protests that occurred there in the spring of 1989. Students gathered to demand political and social change after the death of former CPC secretary Hu Yaobang, who argued for democratic reform. The students wanted more individual rights and less government corruption. By mid-May, the protest crowds had grown to include many Western journalists who were in town for the arrival of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Though moderates advocated for the protesters and suggested making concessions, the CPC chose to take military force to sweep the protesters from the square. Martial law was declared; tanks were brought in, but protesters blocked their path to the center of the city. The CPC militia used violence and deadly force to make their way to the square, where they had cleared the crowds and taken control by June 5th.
The World of The GreaT leap 18 The GreaT Leap
ray yamamoto in the great leap, at tHe Hangar tHeatre and Portland stage ComPany, 2022. PHoto By raCHel PHiliPson
References On and Off the Court
by Audrey Erickson
Not familiar with The Warriors' roster? Don’t know a point guard from a pick? Read below for some basketball references that appear in The Great Leap!
The World of The GreaT leap 19PlayNotes
The Players
KC Jones: KC Jones (1932-2020) was an American professional basketball player and coach best known for his association with the Boston Celtics, with whom he won 11 of his 12 NBA championships. He was a player on the Celtics for nine seasons (1956–1965) as a key member of many wins throughout his tenure. Like his fellow teammate and longtime friend Bill Russell, Jones was a strong defensive player who contributed to the legacy of the Celtics players of the ’50s and ’60s. Drafted as a reserve in his first season, Jones eventually took over as starting point guard, and solidified his reputation as an indispensable player by contributing to championship wins in the first eight seasons of his nine-year career. Following his career as a player, Jones continued his successes as an NBA coach, winning seven
division titles, five Eastern Conference titles and two championships. In recognition of a career that produced more championship rings than Jones had fingers, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989. On Christmas Day in 2020, the Celtics and NBA announced that Jones had died at 88 years old. At the time of his death, Jones was one of seven players in history to have won an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA championship, and an NBA title. Only Russell and Sam Jones won more NBA championships as players.
Rick Barry: Richard Francis Dennis Barry III (1944-) is an American professional basketball player who starred at the NCAA, ABA, and NBA levels. A small forward, Barry ranks among the most prolific scorers and all-around players in basketball history, due to his skillful navigation of the game and his deeply competitive nature. Barry had a reputation of ruthlessness on the court, with aggressive play and determination to take shots by whatever means necessary. Known for his reckless drives to the basket that “landed him two points or a trip to the freethrow line,” his underhanded technique on offense was similar to basketball's early days, despite his otherwise modern play style. As a college player, Barry revitalized the University of Miami’s basketball program and earned All-American honors for his excellent gameplay and his points per game average, which was a staggering 37.4 in his final college season in 1965. The next year Barry won Rookie of the Year honors in the NBA. He helped lead the Golden States Warriors to the 1975 NBA title with his shooting record, particularly his outside jump shot. Barry picked up the Finals Most Valuable Player Award for his efforts.
Bill Russell: William Felton Russell (19342022) was an American basketball player who played as a center for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1969. His gameplay changed the landscape of basketball, as his skills in shotblocking brought greater strategic attention to defensive play. Russell gained attention for his skills in his college basketball career, playing for the University of San Francisco (USF). He was instrumental in helping the team become one of college basketball’s strongest and most successful teams, and he played alongside close friend and future Celtics teammate KC Jones. Following his time with USF, Russell joined the Boston Celtics. During Russell's career, Boston won eleven NBA championships, including eight consecutive
20 The GreaT Leap
The Game
Flagrant fouls: Instances that involve unnecessary or excessive contact initiated against a player by their opponent, which lead to expulsion from the game.
Center: The center, also referred to as the five, is typically the tallest and most physical player on a basketball team. While they do not need to be the strongest ball handlers, shooters, or playmakers, centers are crucial when it comes to rebounding, blocking shots, and setting screens. (See Screen.)
Forcing the mismatches: A mismatch in basketball is “a desired scenario where the offensive player has an advantage over the defensive player.” There are a handful of strategies a coach and team might employ to force a mismatch to their advantage. These include setting up a screen, handing off the ball between a guard and a center, and “screening the screener.” (See Center, Point Guard, Screen, and Shooting Guard.)
titles from 1959 to 1966. Russell was a five-time league MVP (1958, 1961–63, 1965), 12-time NBA All-Star, Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year (1968), and The Sporting News Athlete of the Decade (1970).
The World of The GreaT leap
Point guard: One of five positions on court during a basketball game. It is one of the more specialized positions, as the point guard is responsible for running the team’s offense and executing the coach’s game plan during play time. This includes setting up plays on the court, getting the ball to the teammate in the best position to score, and controlling the tempo of the game. As its name suggests, the point guard is typically physically situated the closest to half-court of all five players, creating
Free throws: When a player is fouled, they are often given one or two free throws to correct for the foul and penalize the other team. During the free throw, the player in question can take a shot on the basket from behind the free-throw line with no defense or other gameplay occuring.
The Warriors: The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco, part of the NBA and the Western Conference Pacific Division. Originally formed in 1946 in Philadelphia, the Warriors moved to San Francisco in 1962. The team spent its early years finding its footing, and became an impressive team in the ’60s with the addition of Rick Barry and other aggressive players. In the late 1980s, the Warriors became associated with Don Nelson’s distinctive up-tempo playing style, which relied on smaller players and an emphasis on scoring over defense.
Bottom of the fourth: The end of the fourth quarter. A typical game of basketball has four quarters (although it extends into overtime in the event of aw tie); the beginning of each period can be called the top while the end of a period is the bottom.
Forward: Forwards are the players on a standard five-person basketball team who play both directly under the basket and out to the three-point line on offense and should be aggressive and rebound-minded on defense.
Go outside: To travel outside the paint (the area inside the lane lines from the baseline to the free-throw line), often to open a player up for a pass or to take a shot. At times during a basketball game, the paint and the area immediately surrounding the hoop can get too congested for players to take a clear shot.
Full-court press: A defensive style in which the defense applies pressure to the offensive team across the entire length of the court. Rather than the defense anticipating movement and hustling towards the basket, players stay close to the opposing team in an attempt to disrupt their attempts to set up a play and gain control of the game. Pressure may be applied man-to-man, or via a zone defense. (See Zone defense.)
Ejecting a player: In basketball, a player or coach can be ejected, or barred from further involvement with the game, if they accumulate two "type 1" flagrant fouls or two technical fouls of an unsportsmanlike nature over the course of the game. Ejected parties have to immediately vacate the court area for the remainder of play, and in the NBA, a fine of $1000 or more is imposed. Depending on the severity of the incident, ejected individuals can be further penalized with game suspensions. (See Flagrant fouls and Technical fouls.)
Shooting guard: Often the shortest player, the shooting guard is the team’s best outside shooter, important on offense for shooting from outside the paint, typically beyond the three-point line. The shooting guard needs to be skilled at dribbling fast, passing, and maintaining good “court view.” They are also responsible for driving the ball down the court and setting up offensive plays. A good shooting guard is able to score from anywhere on the court. (See Go outside.)
Starting line-up: The five players who start the game. The starting line-up typically consists of the team’s strongest players and, in professional basketball, these players play as much of the game as possible in their designated positions, only being substituted out for short breaks, injury, ejections, or other reasons at the coach’s discretion.
21PlayNotes
The World of The GreaT leap a “point” in their formation and allowing them to have the clearest view of the court, helping them see which player is in the best position to score or assess what plays should be run. The point guard is not necessarily a high scorer on the team; often, coaches value agility, speed, and ball-handling over height when choosing a point guard.
Split the post: A common offensive play that involves a player passing the ball to their teammate, then immediately running to set a screen or opening themselves up for a pass. The other players move to fill the gaps that the split has caused, and players can move as many times as needed to open someone up for a pass or shot. The consistent movement is meant to disorient the defense and make it difficult for them to cover their offensive player. (See Screen.)
Technical fouls: Infractions that the referee calls as a foul but don’t involve physical contact between players, or fouls that involve a non-player. Most commonly, technicals are given out for unsportsmanlike conduct, when a player or coach’s level of aggression is exhibited in an inappropriate manner.
Screen: An offensive move done in an attempt to throw off the defense and free up a player to receive a pass or take a shot. A screen (also called a pick) involves an offensive player unexpectedly planting themselves in the path of a defensive player, thus halting their path. Players setting up a screen are often run into as the defensive player moves to try to stay with their offensive counterpart, and players wetting the screen must make sure not to offer any resistance or use their arms to push them or hold on to them in any way, or else be called for a foul.
Zone defense: A defensive strategy that involves each player being responsible for a specific area surrounding their opponents’ basket. Players become responsible for defending any opponent who enters their designated zone. While there are benefits to this defensive strategy, it is not often used in modern professional basketball.
Suicides: A common conditioning drill in practices to build speed, agility, and stamina. With a tongue-in-cheek name referring to the drill’s difficulty, players must do a series of continuous sprints of increasing distances across the court. While a great conditioning exercise for athletes, the high-intensity nature of the drill is physically tiring, and basketball coaches often use it as a punishment, motivating players to play well in practices and games.
Tip-off: The tip-off starts a game of basketball. One player from each team (the jumper) stands with the referee in the center of the court, with their teammates standing outside of the center circle. The two players stand facing each other and towards their basket, while the referee stands to their side and tosses the ball straight up into the air. From there, the jumpers both attempt to act quickly and be the first to jump up and tip the ball towards their team, thus giving them the advantage of being the first on offense. The jumpers are not allowed to grab the ball or wrap their hand around it, and can only attempt to tip the ball to their teammates once it has reached its highest point in the toss. The team who wins the tip-off receives the ball again to start the fourth quarter, while the team who does not win the tip-off gets possession at the beginning of the second and third quarters. Any overtime period begins with a new tip-off.
Digging Deeper 22 The GreaT Leap
The Legacy of the Tiananmen Square Massacre
tiananmen square in BeiJing, CHina
In The Great Leap, the audience sees Manford get lost in a square, and confusedly start chanting with those gathered. He ends up getting reprimanded and almost misses out on his opportunity to play in the exhibition game. The punishment might seem extreme, but given the context of the socio-political climate in and around Beijing during the summer of 1989, it is understandable. The protest that Manford accidentally attended occurred in the penultimate days before the massacre at Tiananmen Square, and it is implied at the end of the show, that in the world of this play Wen Chang became the iconic “tank man” that is associated with the event. Understanding the events that led up to the massacre, as well as the reaction of the Chinese government and the western world can help contextualize the world of the show.
theCONNIEtanks are coming back. WEN CHANG the army is doubling down. they’reCONNIEgoing to sweep the students from the andWENsquare.CHANGyoucan see how this will end. there will be no winner in this confrontation. theyCONNIEwill all be sent back into darkness. giving way to a generation for whom june 4 will mean nothing.
By Meredith G. Healy
During the last two weeks of May, martial law was declared in Beijing and western reporters were no longer allowed to be in the city. On the night of June 3, 1989 troops entered the square with explicit orders to clear it of all protesters.
PHoto By raCHel PHiliPson
In The Great Leap, Lauren Yee is able to illustrate American naivete about global disputes. Many in China and in the US may still not know the full extent of the atrocities that occurred from June 3-4, 1989. Media like this can help not only entertain, but can also educate the audience about larger world issues.
The accounts of what happened over June 3-4 are largely from unofficial reports. In 2017, a document from Sir Alan Donald, the British Ambassador to China at the time, was declassified and contained an account of the event from an anonymous friend in China’s government. Although the reports from the Chinese government estimated the casualties to be approximately 200 civilians and several dozen officials, Donald’s document claims that 10,000 were murdered over the two days. An excerpt from his report describes the horror that occured in the square:
During the 1980s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was met with a growing divide between those who were content with the strict way the government functioned and those who wanted more civil liberties, like free speech. Students were the primary catalysts in the latter group, and started hosting protests to advocate for change. On April 15, 1989 Hu Yaobang a former high-ranking government official who had lost favor with the CCP after suggesting that the government find a compromise with the more liberal students died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in Tiananmen Square on April 22, the day of his funeral, and over the coming weeks more protesters joined bringing the number to an estimated 1 million on the most attended
Theredays.
Digging Deeper 23PlayNotes
"The 27 Army APCs (armored personnel carriers) opened fire on the crowd before running over them…APCs ran over troops and civilians at 65kph (40 miles per hour)...Students linked arms but were mown down…APCs then ran over the bodies time and time again to make 'pie' and remains collected by bulldozer."
was disagreement amongst leaders in the CCP about the best course of action. Was it wise to dispel the protesters with force, or would the gatherings run their course in their own time?
Even today the Chinese government censors news and online information about the massacre. The iconic picture of the single man approaching a tank is not accessible on Chinese servers. Families face arrest for acknowledging the way in which their loved ones died. There are no public memorials or annual vigils to mark the anniversary of the assault, Hong Kong and Macau are the only places on Chinese soil that have been given permission to give recognition to the tragedy. Hong Kong also had a museum dedicated to remembering the massacre and the lives lost, but in September of 2021 it was shut down by the newly created national security unit and those who ran the museum were arrested and detained. This action is aligned with China’s recent increased control over Hong Kong.
norman garCy yaP (aea) in the great leap, at tHe Hangar tHeatre and Portland stage, 2022.
have continued displaying resistance to colonial violence by playing lacrosse both locally and now internationally, as a team of entirely Haudenosaunee players began competing in the World Games in 1990. This has still been met with systemic barriers: the International Olympic Committee originally deemed the Iroquois Nationals (now known as the Haudenosaunee Confederacy) lacrosse team ineligible to compete in the 2022 World Games, despite the Iroquois Nationals being ranked third in the world. After public pushback, and the Ireland team withdrawing from the tournament to ensure Iroquois Nationals had a spot, the team representing the Haudenosaunee Confederacy will officially compete among seven other international teams in 2028.
The international stage of the Olympics has never been simply a space for the worldwide celebration of athleticism. The first modern Olympic Games was held in Athens in 1896, and despite being celebrated as the inception of a worldwide sporting event, the only nations that were officially recorded to have competed were European or had been colonized by Europeans. Not a single nation from Africa or Asia competed in the first Olympic Games, showing an early prioritization of White and European athletes in the games.
Sports and Politics
Digging Deeper 24 The GreaT Leap
Lauren Yee’s The Great Leap centers on the inevitable rematch of two basketball teams separated by nearly 6,000 miles: Saul’s University of San Francisco team and Wen Chang’s Beijing University team. As Saul publicly throws around comments like “no Chinese team will ever beat an American team, I promise you,” it becomes clear that more rides on this game than simply which team wins or loses. This courtside conflict in The Great Leap points to the ways that sporting events, and particularly international sporting events, have always been inseparable from nationalism, politics, and protest.
by Macey Downs
Lacrosse as we know it today was stolen by European colonizers from Indigenous players, who were then intentionally barred from playing the game they created in an attempt to deny Indigenous sovereignty. However, many members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy
In America, athletic challenges have always been used to play out larger-scale conflicts, as Indigenous communities played sports long before colonization. The Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, Confederacy saw lacrosse as a spiritual game given to their people by the Creator, and used lacrosse for recreation, healing, and politics. Some deemed the game as the “Little Brother of War” because they often played it as a way to settle disputes between the nations. Lacrosse was a crucial way of keeping the peace and creating strong social bonds, with the games often concluding with a communal feast. The sport helped strengthen the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, preventing conflicts from escalating into war.
The Olympic Charter officially states that “no kind of demonstration, political, religious, or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues, or other areas.” Yet separating politics from international sporting events is antithetical, and the Olympics consistently sees intentional political conflicts, messaging, and protests. When Berlin hosted the Olympic Games in 1936, the Nazi Party had risen to power in Germany only three years prior. With 49 participating countries and individuals around the world watching, the Nazi Party used this spotlight as an opportunity to appear benign while providing fuel for its white supremacist propaganda of Aryan superiority. Many felt that the Nazis’ violent and racist agenda was symbolically undermined when the Black American track athlete Jesse Owens Haudenosaunee ConfederaCy flag.
Digging Deeper 25PlayNotes
Politicization of the Olympics is more the rule than the exception. The Helsinki 1952 games were portrayed by media as a competition between free and communist countries of the Cold War; in Mexico City in 1968, Black American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their hands in a Black Power salute to protest the US’s inhumane treatment of Black people, and were subsequently kicked off the team by the US Olympics Committee; the Montreal 1976 games were boycotted by over twenty African countries after New Zealand was allowed to compete despite having allowed its rugby team tour racially segregated, apartheid South Africa. Beijing 2022, the most recent games, were diplomatically boycotted by several countries in response to China’s human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Muslims in the northwest Xinjiang region. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian athletes have been banned from competing in several international sporting events, including the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games and the World Figure Skating Championships. Today, the culture created around sporting events continues to promote particular political and social orders. A famous Serbian football player, Ivan Ergić, is critical of the relationship between sports and global capitalism,
PHoto By raCHel PHiliPson.
won gold over a member of the Nazi Germany team in the long jump. Together, Black athletes took home fourteen gold medals, four of which were won by Jesse Owens.
The Great Leap doesn’t shy away from these layers of politicization in sports. Both the Beijing and San Francisco teams’ styles of playing basketball are impacted by the ideals of their home country, making the inevitable rematch of these teams not just about which team will win, but whose ideals will appear victorious on a world stage. By having the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre echo onto the Beijing basketball court, Yee points to the ways in which the world of sports cannot be separated from world events.
stating: “The sports industry today serves as a way of promoting socially domineering capitalism, particularly through the idea that competition brings the best results and the best out of humanity.” Mainstream media coverage of sports often revolves around a meritocracy narrative, with the winning team being celebrated as the most athletic and hardworking, without also discussing how access to resources or forms of systemic oppression also contribute to different teams’ outcomes. Schools also use sports from a young age to teach children about nationalism, as they are encouraged to support teams based on geographic proximity.
Jim sHankman (aea) and norman garCy yaP (aea) in the great leap, at tHe Hangar tHeatre and Portland stage ComPany, 2022.
ray yamamoto and eileen doan in the great leap, at tHe Hangar tHeatre and Portland stage ComPany, 2022, PHoto By raCHel PHiliPson
Brave Dragons: A Chinese Basketball Team, an American Coach, and Two Cultures Clashing by Jim Yardley Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down by Dave Zirin A Leaf in the Bitter Wind: A Memoir by Ting-xing Ye YAO: A Life in Two Worlds by Yao Ming
Youth (dir. Xiaogang Feng)
Extras 26 The GreaT Leap
Recommended Resources by Editors
Plays: King of the Yees by Lauren Yee Nightwatch by Max Yu
Bill Russell: My Life, My Way
Books:
The Tank Man
Films
Documentaries:
Student Matinee Series
Extras P27 layNotes
Portland Stage CompanyEducation and Outreach
The Portland Stage Student Matinee Program annually provides more than 7,000 middle and high school students from Maine and New Hampshire with discounted tickets for student matinees. We would be happy to do a workshop pre-show or post-show with you too!
Our theater camps are fun, challenging, and enriching. We use stories of all kinds to fuel these active, educational and lively, process-based week-long school vacation and summer programs for youth. Theater for Kids works with professional actors, directors, artisans, and composers. Students are invited to think, speak, and act, and even sing imaginatively, critically, and creatively in an environment of inclusivity and safe play.
Directors Lab
Groups watch a 50 minute production of a Shakespeare’s play performed by professional actors/ teaching artists. After the performance, students engage directly with the text in an interactive workshop with the actors and creative team. In these workshops, students practice effective communication, creative collaboration, rhetowric, and critical analysis. The program also comes with a comprehensive Resource Guide filled with information and resources about the play we are focusing on. Directors Lab puts Shakespeare’s language into the hands and mouths of the students, empowering them to be the artists, directors, and ensemble with the power to interpret the text and produce meaning.
After school classes at Portland Stage produce a safe environment for young people to find a higher sense of play, stretch their imaginations, and gain valuable social skills such as listening, risk-taking, ensemble building, public speaking, and leadership through storytelling. These classes are fun, creative, spontaneous, and begin to build skills for the young actor or non-actor’s voice, body, and imagination. Visit our website for this year’s offerings!
Join Portland Stage as we discuss, debate, and explore the plays on our stage and in the classroom! Portland Stage is dedicated to bringing exciting theater, inspiring conversation, interactive experiences, and thought-provoking literature to a wide audience of youth and adult learners. Whether you take part in a discussion, subscribe to PlayNotes, take a class in our Theater for Kids space, or bring a group of students to see a performance, there is something here for everyone. How would you like to participate?
An interactive dramatic reading and acting workshop for elementary school students in grades Pre-K to 5. Professional teaching artists perform children’s literature and classic poetry for the entire school, and then work with select classrooms in workshops based on the stories. Actors actively engage students in small groups/workshops using their bodies, voices, and imaginations to build understanding of the text while bringing the stories and characters to life. PLAY helps develop literacy and reading fluency, character recall, understanding of themes, social emotional skills, physical storytelling, and vocal characterization. The program also comes with a comprehensive Resource Guide filled with information and activities based on the books and poems.
PLAY Program
Vacation and Summer Camps
Experience the Fun & Magic of Theater on Saturday Mornings at 10:30am with Play Me a Story! All ages can enjoy a free performance of children's stories on Facebook live. Ages 4-10 are welcome to participate in an interactive workshop over zoom for $5. Build literacy, encourage creativity and spark dramatic dreams!
Play Me a Story
After School Classes
Portland Stage Company
Aisling Dono Education Assistant
Administrative Staff
Apprentice Company
Madison MacDonald Props Apprentice
Elizabeth Randall Costumes Apprentice
Martin Lodish Managing Director
Susan Thomas Costume Shop Manager
Michael Dix Thomas Education Director
Jacob Coombs Associate Technical Director
Madeleine St. Germain Front of House Associate Adam Thibodeau House Manager
Audrey Erickson Directing & Dramaturgy Apprentice Nick Hone Education Apprentice
Renee Myhaver Assistant Box Office Manager
Jennifer London Company Manager
Artistic & Production Staff
BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TODAY!
Mary Lana Rice Production Manager & Lighting Supervisor
Andrej Nawoj Costumes Apprentice Moira O'Sullivan Directing & Dramaturgy Apprentice
Ashley Ward Lighting & Sound Apprentice Brady Willis Stage Management Apprentice
Thalia Wolff Company Management Apprentice
Seth Asa Sengel Asst. Production Manager & Sound Supervisor
Amanda Cooper Stage Management Apprentice
Myles C. Hatch Stage Manager
Shannon Wade Front of House Associate
Paul Ainsworth Business Manager
Julianne Shea Education Administrator
Beth Given Development Director
Meg Lydon Stage Manager
Anita Stewart Artistic Director
Rachel Ropella Directing & Dramaturgy Apprentice Liana SC Education Apprentice
Todd Brian Backus Literary Manager
Donald Smith Audience Services Manager
Ted Gallant Technical Director
Cody Brackett Marketing Associate
Mical Hutson Marketing Director
Lindsey Higgins Development Associate
Zoë Lewis Executive Assistant
Chris DeFilipp House Manager
