BY YOUNG JEAN LEE
DIRECTED BY MARCEL A. MASCARO JANUARY 19 - FEBRUARY 12
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"Innovative, exuberant theatre"
- Warwick Beacon "Adventure, consolation, and everything in between."
- Motif Magazine "A haunting and surreal theatrical experience"
- EDGE Providence |
"Top notch performances...Wilbury's 'We're Gonna Die' is innovative, exuberant theatre!"
- Warwick Beacon
- Warwick Beacon
ABOUT
WE'RE GONNA DIE
by Young Jean Lee
In this Obie Award-winning piece, provocative playwright Young Jean Lee takes audiences on an unforgettable ride that's part concert, part stand-up, and all fun. It's the acclaimed life-affirming show about the thing everyone has in common:
WE'RE GONNA DIE.
You may be miserable, but you won't be alone.
WE'RE GONNA DIE.
You may be miserable, but you won't be alone.
"Part monologue, part musical, Young Jean Lee's "We're Gonna Die" is an unabashedly experimental work, and the production at the Wilbury Theatre is not afraid to take it on its own terms. Those who want to see just how avant the garde can get will find this an enjoyable evening."
- Broadway World
- Broadway World
PRESS + MEDIA
"The Guardian called Lee “one of the world’s most exciting playwrights,” and, indeed, she is. Lee was a sort of wunderkind, springing up from New York City’s downtown experimental theater scene to become the first Asian-American woman to have a play on Broadway in 2018 with Straight White Men. Fearless is a term often used to describe her work. It makes perfect sense that Wilbury Theatre Group – our area’s go-to for challenging, avant-garde theater — returns to her oeuvre." -Providence Monthly
"It’s one of two things in life that are certain. And we’re not talking about taxes: We’re Gonna Die. That disheartening subject is the theme of the Rhode Island premiere of the award-winning play We’re Gonna Die, which opens later this week at Wilbury Theater Group’s performance space...The play is also the Wilbury directorial debut for Marcel A. Mascaro, who I spoke with last week. Mascaro explained how the show falls outside the mainstream of traditional theater." -What's Up Newport
"Wilbury's 'We're Gonna Die' is innovative, exuberant theatre....The performances are top notch. It moves at a rapid pace mixing soliloquies with music, all dealing with life and death. After an energetic and funny warmup by Christine Treglia and a brief “pre-show” by Chazzgiovanni (We’re gonna get ready/you do the same) singer/storyteller Helena Tafuri takes center stage and talks about her life (or Lee’s life) of pain, isolation, grief and death". - Warwick Beacon
"Part monologue, part musical, Young Jean Lee's 'We're Gonna Die' is an unabashedly experimental work, and the production at the Wilbury Theatre is not afraid to take it on its own terms. Those who want to see just how avant the garde can get will find this an enjoyable evening." - Broadway World
"A hybrid of play and rock musical that deals with depressing subjects, but is not depressing to watch...Tafuri is an engaging performer and draws us into some dark emotions....The music, beautifully composed and performed by Chazz Giovanni, Jose Docen, and Teddy Lytle, is defiant, yet heartfelt....Al Forgione's unique set design consists of a series of seemingly random objects, including an upside down bicycle, a traffic light, and a Yield sign. Director Marcel Mascaro, working with lighting designer Alexander Sprague, creates a haunting and surreal theatrical experience." - EDGE Providence
"Wilbury Theatre Group presents the RI premiere of We’re Gonna Die by Young Jean Lee, directed by Marcel A. Mascaro. In this Obie Award-winning piece featuring just four performers – Helena Tafuri, ChazzGiovanni, Jose Docen, and Teddy Lytle – fearless playwright Lee treats us to live music and immersive storytelling during a one-hour journey through Emotionville...While some of the story is heartbreaking, you’re sure to leave feeling uplifted. You’ll especially love the playful audience interaction at the end!" - Motif Magazine
"It’s one of two things in life that are certain. And we’re not talking about taxes: We’re Gonna Die. That disheartening subject is the theme of the Rhode Island premiere of the award-winning play We’re Gonna Die, which opens later this week at Wilbury Theater Group’s performance space...The play is also the Wilbury directorial debut for Marcel A. Mascaro, who I spoke with last week. Mascaro explained how the show falls outside the mainstream of traditional theater." -What's Up Newport
"Wilbury's 'We're Gonna Die' is innovative, exuberant theatre....The performances are top notch. It moves at a rapid pace mixing soliloquies with music, all dealing with life and death. After an energetic and funny warmup by Christine Treglia and a brief “pre-show” by Chazzgiovanni (We’re gonna get ready/you do the same) singer/storyteller Helena Tafuri takes center stage and talks about her life (or Lee’s life) of pain, isolation, grief and death". - Warwick Beacon
"Part monologue, part musical, Young Jean Lee's 'We're Gonna Die' is an unabashedly experimental work, and the production at the Wilbury Theatre is not afraid to take it on its own terms. Those who want to see just how avant the garde can get will find this an enjoyable evening." - Broadway World
"A hybrid of play and rock musical that deals with depressing subjects, but is not depressing to watch...Tafuri is an engaging performer and draws us into some dark emotions....The music, beautifully composed and performed by Chazz Giovanni, Jose Docen, and Teddy Lytle, is defiant, yet heartfelt....Al Forgione's unique set design consists of a series of seemingly random objects, including an upside down bicycle, a traffic light, and a Yield sign. Director Marcel Mascaro, working with lighting designer Alexander Sprague, creates a haunting and surreal theatrical experience." - EDGE Providence
"Wilbury Theatre Group presents the RI premiere of We’re Gonna Die by Young Jean Lee, directed by Marcel A. Mascaro. In this Obie Award-winning piece featuring just four performers – Helena Tafuri, ChazzGiovanni, Jose Docen, and Teddy Lytle – fearless playwright Lee treats us to live music and immersive storytelling during a one-hour journey through Emotionville...While some of the story is heartbreaking, you’re sure to leave feeling uplifted. You’ll especially love the playful audience interaction at the end!" - Motif Magazine
CAST + CREATIVE TEAM
Helena Tafuri*
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WE'RE GONNA DIE
By Young Jean Lee Directed by Marcel A. Mascaro Music Direction / Vocals + SoundScape by ChazzGiovanni Guitar by Jose Docen Percussion + Bass by Teddy Lytle Audio Design by Dave Carney Costume Design by Jaimy Escobedo Set Design by Al Forgione Light Design by Alexander P. Sprague Stage Management by Gavin DiFranco* Asst. Stage Management by Allison Marchetti Production Photos by Erin X. Smithers Press / Media Inquiries: Niki Healy |
*Appears courtesy Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Young Jean Lee
Young Jean Lee is a playwright and director who has been called "the most adventurous downtown playwright of her generation" by the New York Times and "one of the best experimental playwrights in America" by Time Out New York. She’s the first Asian-American female playwright to have had a play produced on Broadway. She has written and directed ten shows in New York with Young Jean Lee's Theater Company and toured her work to over eighty cities around the world. Her plays have been published by Theatre Communications Group (Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven and Other Plays, The Shipment and Lear) and by Samuel French (Three Plays by Young Jean Lee). She is currently under commission from Lincoln Center Theater, Playwrights Horizons, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She has an MFA from Mac Wellman's playwriting program at Brooklyn College, and is a resident filmmaker at the Wooster Group. She has received grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Creative Capital, NYFA, NEA, NYSCA, the Jerome Foundation, the Greenwall Foundation, and the Rockefeller MAP Foundation. She is also the recipient of two OBIE awards, the Festival Prize of the Zuercher Theater Spektakel, a Prize in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Doris Duke Artist Award.
2022/23 Memberships
Join us at Providence's home for groundbreaking artists and adventurous audiences. Membership includes admission to all our 2022/23 productions, including the world premiere of Rose Weaver’s Silhouette of a Silhouette, the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best Play, The Humans by Stephen Karam, Obie Award winner We’re Gonna Die by Young Jean Lee, Indecent from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, the world premiere of the new musical Off With Their Heads by Darcie Dennigan, and more.
Become a Member for our 2022/23 Season today and never miss a thing.
Become a Member for our 2022/23 Season today and never miss a thing.
ABOUT
An award-winning*, not-for-profit professional theatre company, the Wilbury Theatre Group engages our community in thought-provoking conversation through new works, reimagined classics and adventurous playmaking. We are idealistic, ambitious, and stubborn in our resolve to create theatre that entertains, enlightens, and inspires.
*WINNER of the 2018 National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing (The Tony Awards).
*WINNER of the 2018 National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing (The Tony Awards).
