DENNIS
YUEH-YEH
LI
director / playwright / performer
DENNIS
YUEH-YEH
LI
director / playwright / performer
DENNIS
YUEH-YEH
LI
director / playwright / performer
in
development.
RHAPSODY M
Written & Directed by Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li
Produced by Voyage Theater Company
Queens Council on the Arts (New Work Grant)
December, 2021
On the M train from Queens to Manhattan, passengers of Chinese diaspora reveal their journeys and relationships through intimate scenes and exchanges. When the train arrives at the Myrtle Avenue/Broadway station, a group of Chinese-American millennials board the car with protest signs and banners, triggering a clash between generations.
staged reading
& workshops.
SCHUBERT WAS A RICE QUEEN
Genre: INTERDISCIPLINARY PLAY (Object Theater, Puppetry, Classical Music)
Written by Jeremy Rafal
Theaterlab
March, 2026
Vienna, 1828. Composer Franz Schubert is dying, but not without throwing one last party. Re-introducing himself as an Aquarius, tea-spiller, and musical genius, he recollects the life of an artist in post-Napoleonic Vienna under Metternich, where anything erotic, foreign, or new is treated as a political threat. Souvenirs from the Orient become portals to imagined queer histories through piano performance, puppetry, and scandalous reminiscence, recasting Schubert as history’s unwritten rice queen.
Schubert Was a Rice Queen is an immersive solo show that blends cabaret, puppet fantasia, and live recital, featuring some of Schubert’s most beloved works, from his piano sonatas and impromptus to Lieder such as Erlkönig and Ständchen.
HAPPY TO BE HERE
Genre: MUSICAL
Music & Book by Miguel Sutedjo
The Makers Space
March, 2026
Happy to Be Here is one man musical written/performed/accompanied/lived by Miguel Sutedjo, exploring his decision to return to NYC from Paradise, also known as Taiwan. During his year there, he wrote puppet shows and ESL musicals for his middle schoolers, completed an 8-day biking tour, ate rice for every meal, and fell in love with convenience stores, universal healthcare, and Asian hospitality. Most importantly, he found his peace. So if he was so happy over there, why did he come back?
LATE BLOOMING
Genre: PLAY
Written by Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li
Queens Public Library at Elmhurst (New Work Grant)
November, 2025
Libao, a closeted Chinese American novelist, confronts the tension between his sexuality and his parents’ expectations. The story is propelled by the return of Libao’s childhood friend Shan, now a realtor, to a gentrifying Elmhurst, Queens. During her visit, Libao revisits his sexual awakening and encounters with New York’s vibrant queer culture, moments that sharpen the conflict between desire and restraint. Shan’s presence ignites long-buried family tensions, leading to an emotional rupture. In its wake, Libao begins writing an autofiction imagining himself as the traditional, heterosexual son his parents always wanted. This fictionalized self becomes both mirror and release, ultimately serving as a bridge toward reconciliation.
STANDING ABOVE PAJARO
Genre: OPERA
Music by Jeremy Rafal
Libretto & Original Story by Conrad A. Panganiban
Museum of Chinese in America
October, 2024
Set against the backdrop of 1930s Watsonville, California, Standing Above Pajaro unfolds on a desperate early morning when Celestino Tobera, a Filipino farm worker, seeks refuge in a general store, fleeing an enraged mob intent on eradicating the Filipino community. The store’s owner, Melissa Anne Crawley, is faced with a heart-wrenching decision: protect Celestino or align with her son, who leads the violent mob.
TOMORROW, BY THE SEA
Genre: MUSICAL
Music by Alexander Ronneburg, Erika Ito
Book & Lyrics by Yunhye Park, Alexander Ronneburg
Museum of Chinese in America
September, 2024
Tomorrow, by the Sea is set during the festival of Obon, seven years after the devastating 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The musical follows train officers who care for the suspended train stations following the nuclear disaster. The officer Semi, who lost his girlfriend in the tragedy, is still processing his loss. During the preparations for Obon, a mysterious guest arrives at the station, unexpectedly entering his life.
THE PEARL OF THE EAST
Genre: MUSICAL
Music, Book & Lyrics by Zonia Tsang
Theatre Now New York, Sound Bites Festival
May, 2024
Set against the backdrop of the recent Hong Kong protests, a grandmother recounts the dangers she survived and the prices she paid to leave China during the Cultural Revolution.
HAPPY ENDINGS FOR PEOPLE LIKE US
Genre: SHORT PLAY
Written by Nina Ki
Voyage Theater Company, NYU Skirball Center
Say Gay Plays
May, 2024
As Jordan is preparing to leave home for her freshman year at college, her queer non-binary sibling Nani panics, feeling abandoned and vulnerable without their older sister’s protection.
FLY ME AWAY
Genre: JAZZ MUSICAL
Music, Book & Lyrics by Miguel Sutedjio
Museum of Chinese in America
April, 2023
Fly Me Away follows teenage jazz pianist Frank and his father as they move from Shanghai to New York City in pursuit of a better life. Despite his father’s dissuasion, Frank immerses himself in the NYC jazz scene; meanwhile, his father loses his corporate job and finds work in a Chinatown dumpling shop. As life grows more difficult for Frank and his father, they realize just what it takes to succeed in America and fly away to their dreams.