Review: THE GREAT LEAP at Portland Center Stage

UPDATE: There's now a streaming version available through February 22.

Due to COVID-related challenges, it took me three tries to see THE GREAT LEAP, which is heading into its final weekend at Portland Center Stage as a co-production with Artists Repertory Theatre. If it had taken me ten tries, it would have been worth it. Lauren Yee's 2018 play, inspired in part by her father, is everything we've come to expect from this exceptional playwright - it's gripping, funny, emotional, and will leave you with plenty to chew on.

THE GREAT LEAP centers on Manford Lum, a Chinese-American high school student in 1989 with dreams of playing in the NBA, or at least at the University of San Francisco. The problem, according to the USF coach, is his height. But when the team is invited to play a friendship game in Beijing and USF finds itself without a point guard, Manford gets his chance.

Despite appearances, THE GREAT LEAP isn't about basketball. It also isn't so much about Manford. It's about the coaches. More accurately, it's about what the coaches represent. Saul (the USF coach) and Wen Chang (the University of Beijing coach) had met in 1971, mid-Cultural Revolution, when Saul had been invited to China to teach them the American version of the game. At that time, Wen Chang had worked as Saul's translator. Now, post-Cultural Revolution and at the height of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, a lot - but not everything - has changed.

IMO, Yee crafts a story like no one else. Similar to CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND, her multi-award-winning play that was supposed to come to Portland before COVID interrupted, THE GREAT LEAP is intricately-woven, revealing only a little at a time, so that you're caught up in a wave, not entirely sure where you're going until you've gotten there. She also has a keen knack for distilling things down to their essence with just a few simple words - the Great Wall is "kinda broken, mostly stairs," the American ethos is "it's always your turn."

This production is full of talent, but its beating heart is Kenneth Lee, who plays Wen Chang. Compared to the Americans, who are loud, blustery, and frankly pretty whiny, Wen Chang - who has had more to deal with than the rest of them combined - wears his issues on the inside, and Lee succeeds in communicating the full spectrum of human emotion without saying a word. Also, a shout-out to sound designer Fan Zhang, whose work adds an immersive quality to the show.

THE GREAT LEAP runs live through Feb. 13, with a streaming option available through Feb. 22. More details and tickets here: https://www.pcs.org/the-great-leap

Also stay tuned for Lauren Yee's YOUNG AMERICANS, a new play commissioned by PCS. Developmental workshops are being held this season.

Photo credit: Owen Carey/courtesy of Portland Center Stage

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