From left: Daniel J. Kim, director Jennifer Chang, Kelvin Han Yee, Sab Shimono and playwright Philip Kan Gotanda at Opening Night of “Yankee Dawg You Die.” Shimono and Yee starred in the play’s 1988 world premiere.
By J.K. YAMAMOTO
The Rafu Shimpo
Philip Kan Gotanda’s “Yankee Dawg You Die” premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 1988, with Sab Shimono as Vincent Chang and Kelvin Han Yee as Bradley Yamashita.
Vincent is a Hollywood veteran who has taken many demeaning and stereotypical roles because those were the only ones available at the time. Bradley is an ambitious and outspoken young actor who says he will only take dignified roles. The play’s title comes from Vincent’s dialogue when he was the bad guy in a World War II movie.
Thirty-seven years later, Yee has returned to the play, this time as Vincent, in East West Players’ current production, which runs through July 27. He stars opposite Daniel J. Kim as Bradley, with Jennifer Chang directing.
Yee has had numerous stage and screen roles. His latest TV credits include “The Brothers Sun,” “Quantum Leap,” “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” “Beef,” “9-1-1,” “Partner Track,” “Reacher” and “Space Force.” His voice work includes the English dubs of “Bullet Train Explosion,” “Godzilla Minus One” and “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.” On the big screen, he was recently seen in “May December.”
Calling “Yankee Dawg You Die” “a seminal work,” he recalled, “One of the most historically significant aspects of this play was that it inspired a whole generation of Asian Americans to ‘get into the game.’ This play, which teaches us the history of Asian representation in America, shows the AANHPI community what was missing in Hollywood. And what was missing was us. Our faces. Our perspective. Our stories. Told by us. This is the reason we have ‘Joy Luck Club,’ ‘Better Luck Tomorrow,’ ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ and ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’ And the engine of this play is still running.”
Yee remembers an eye-opening encounter he had while doing the play at Los Angeles Theatre Center: “I was asked by an L.A. Times reporter to give an example of a movie character that was demeaning or perpetuated negative Asian stereotypes. I referenced Gedde Watanabe’s character Long Duk Dong, the nerdy, anachronistic exchange student in the film ’Sixteen Candles.’ Well, the day the story came out I got to the theater to do the show and Sab was sitting there reading the L.A. Times.
“He said, ‘Oh Kelvin, I’m having a get-together tonight at my house. Do come by. There’s someone you simply must meet.’ When I rang his doorbell, he opened the door, grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the punchbowl, and without further ado introduced, ‘Kelvin Han Yee … Gedde Watanabe’ before leaving me alone with the actor I had just dragged in the paper.
“He turned out to be the sweetest guy I ever met. I mumbled an apology; he waved it away, ‘No need.’ I spent the evening getting to know one of our most talented actors. And I realized that every other Asian American actor at that party had auditioned for the same part. Gedde was just the one who got it. I realized that we were a community of Asian American actors. That we were all in this together.
“So from then on when I saw my fellow Asian American actors in the audition waiting room, I would not treat them like white actors treat each other, bragging, one-upping, trying to psych out the competition. No, I always say, ‘Good to see you, brother’ …. or ‘Break a leg, brother.’ Because we Asian American actors are still a small community and we run into each other all the time at parties, auditions and on set. We have to have each other’s backs.”
Sab Shimono and Kelvin Han Yee in the 1988 world premiere of “Yankee Dawg You Die” at the Berkeley Rep.
Opening-Night Reunion
On opening night for “Yankee Dawg You Die” at EWP on July 6, “I had a heart-melting, teary-eyed reunion on stage with the acting legend Sab Shimono. He is an Asian American treasure … He will always be my Vincent. I love this man. When I play Vincent, I’m just trying to be Sab.”
Yee said he has learned a great deal from Shimono, starting on the first day of rehearsal in 1988. “He told me that curtain call was the most important moment in the play. He said there was technique and craft to taking that final bow … Sab taught me that curtain call was the moment in the evening when the audience has their opportunity to communicate to you. It is the audience’s catharsis. And that the actor should listen and receive what they are communicating.
“We owe it to them. We have been talking to them for 90 minutes. Now it is their turn to say something to us. It is a dialogue. Sab said that before you bow, you should stand and listen to the audience. A good actor listens … Listen humbly. Take in what they are communicating. Appreciate it. He said the applause will crescendo. Then as it begins to wane, take your bow. The applause will begin to crescendo again. This is the science of curtain call …
“This is knowledge attained from the school of hard knocks. I have told this story to the younger actors, the next generation that I am working with. I pass along the wisdom of Sab Shimono.”
Yee had high praise for Gotanda, who also attended the opening. “I actually met Philip before he was writing plays and before I established myself as an actor. I was a bouncer at a strip club and he was a folk musician. We hung out at Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco with David Henry Hwang, Velina Houston, Lane Nishikawa, Amy Hill, Dennis Dun, Warren Kubota.”
In addition to “Yankee Dawg You Die,” Yee originated roles in Gotanda’s plays “Fish Head Soup,” “The Wind Cries Mary” and “Jan Ken Po.”
Yee added, “We went to Sundance Film Lab to develop a film that eventually turned into ‘Life Tastes Good’ starring Sab Shimono, Julia Nickson, Tamlyn Tomita and myself. We’ve done great work together. It is always a privilege and an honor to speak his words and live his characters.”
Daniel J. Kim (left) as Bradley Yamashita and Kelvin Han Yee as Vincent Chang in Philip Kan Gotanda’s “Yankee Dawg You Die” at East West Players.
Same Play, New Role
“I always loved this character,” Yee said of Vincent. “But I am a very different actor and person than Sab Shimono. So when (EWP Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal) asked me to do it, I had to accept the challenge. I cannot play Vincent exactly how he played it. I have to do it my way. I am channeling some other Asian American classic Hollywood actors like Mako, James Shigeta, Sessue Hayakawa, Keye Luke, Clyde Kusatsu, James Hong, Tzi Ma and Bruce Lee.”
The world has changed since 1988, but in some ways it hasn’t, Yee observed. “We rehearsed this play at East West Players’ David Henry Hwang Theater in Little Tokyo, right across the street from the Federal Building, where anti-ICE protests were taking place. We could hear the smoke bombs and the rubber bullets and the tanks outside as we spoke our lines telling our little part of the immigrant American story. We were/are assaulted by relevance every day.
“There are lines in this play like ‘I’m an American. And this goddamn movie comes along and makes me feel like I don’t belong here. Like I’m the enemy. I belong here.’ Yes, this play is disturbingly, mind-blowingly still relevant.”
The David Henry Hwang Theater is located at 120 Judge John Aiso St. between First and Temple. For information and reservations, call (213) 625-7000 or visit eastwestplayers.org.