East West Players presents “Yankee Dawg You Die”

One of the most important things that art does is to put a spotlight on or explore topics that would otherwise not get the public notice that they deserve. The primary beauty of art is the opportunity to perceive something through another person’s experience, to expand our sense of empathy, connect and perhaps to change the way we might think about things. Philip Kan Gotanda’s Yankee Dawg You Die has very worthy subject matter – the challenges of Asian American actors to get fair treatment in the entertainment industry – and it’s receiving a well-directed and acted revival at East West Players. However, although the content remains sadly relevant even today, the writing seems less effective now than perhaps it did when it premiered in 1988.

In the 1980s, veteran actor Vincent Chang (Kelvin Han Yee) is smoking a cigarette on the balcony at a Hollywood party. He’s joined by acting newcomer Bradley Yamashita (Daniel J. Kim), who eagerly strikes up a conversation with the older man. Bradley irritates Vincent by informing him that it’s no longer acceptable to refer to Asians as “Orientals” and that he’s going to be a serious actor and not settle for the smaller and often racially insensitive roles Vincent played during most of his career. As time goes on, the two actors meet and eventually become friends. Vincent educates Bradley about how Asian actors in his era did the best they could with what little was available in an openly racist and (during and after WWII) hostile time. Bradley, in his turn, inspires Vincent to stand up for himself more and reconnect with his original artistic dreams.

Yee (who originated the Bradley role in the 1988 premiere) is memorably fine as Vincent, bringing humor and a sense of rueful sorrow and anger to the role of the veteran actor. Vincent comes alive as he tells stories about working the Asian theater “chop-suey circuit,” wanting to be Fred Astaire and meeting icons such as Anna May Wong, but his frustration at being only allowed to play smaller parts is also very present in Yee’s performance. Kim is good as the brash, initially judgmental Bradley, denigrating Vincent as the “Asian Stepin Fetchit” but eventually respecting what previous generations of Asian actors had to do to survive. A scene in which Bradley talks about a racially-provoked stabbing doesn’t entirely succeed, however.

Jennifer Chang’s direction is smooth and professional, benefiting greatly from Jason H. Thompson’s projection design of Hollywood locations and Asian American stars from the past. Her staging of the scene in which the two leads create a new Godzilla movie is delightful. Gotanda is certainly to be lauded for writing a play about the issue of Asian American representation in the entertainment industry, and the fact that it’s being revived demonstrates that its message is still relevant. It’s often quite funny, as in a scene in which Vincent remembers thinking that Neil Sedaka might be Asian because his last name sounded Japanese, or when Bradley suggests that Vincent could have won an award for an Actor with Less than Five Lines. That being said, the play also has character speeches that meander and in general the show feels like it could use some tightening up.

This revival of Yankee Dawg You Die is a welcome production of an important play, but unfortunately it also seems somewhat less sharp than it may have been in 1988.

Yankee Dog You Die is presented by East West Players at the David Henry Hwang Theater and plays through July 27. Tickets are available at https://www.eastwestplayers.org/tickets.