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.
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.