By Erin Chew

Set in 1980s Los Angeles, the stage production Yankee Dawg You Die by Philip Kan Gotanda (The Wash, Life Tastes Good) follows two actors from different generations. The first is Vincent Chang– a seasoned Hollywood veteran who built his hard-won career playing the stereotype that was offered to him. The others is Bradley Yamashita – a rising star who is determined to break barriers and really show what Asian American actors are made of.

World premiering in 1988 at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, this stage production was ways ahead of its time. Back then Vincent Chang was played by Sab Shimono (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, Waterworld) and Bradley Yamashita was played by Kelvin Han Yee (Beef, The Brothers Sun, Quantum Leap). Decades later, this production is being bought back to life and will be playing at East West Players.

This time Jennifer Chang is at the helm, directing this story with a modern touch. Interestingly, Chang initially was not going to take on directing this play due to a busy schedule, but changed her mind after considering the play’s importance.

“When I was first approached to direct this play, I actually said no because I was just coming off a really grueling schedule of plays. Yankee Dawg You Die will be my fifth play for the year. I knew I had to do some deep thinking”, Chang recently discussed in an interview with AsAmNews.

“It was Kelvin who reached out to me and convinced me to take this on because the issues this play discusses talks about racism which is the cornerstone of many Asian American experiences in theater and entertainment. His convictions and loyalty to the play’s message inspired me”.

For Han Yee, this play gave him opportunities in his younger days and now has allowed him to give back. In the world premiere in 1988, he played the young character Bradley, and in the East West Players production in 2025- almost forty years later, he plays the experienced and seasoned actor Vincent. A true cycle indeed.

Both these characters shaped the career situation Han Yee was in during those years and his situation in the present. In 1986, two years before Yankee Dawg You Die, He was cast in the film The Great Wall. The role brought him recognition but did not translate into more acting opportunities back then. This mirrors the experiences of the young Bradley, who like Han Yee was trying to find his break.

This play was Han Yee’s salvation as it gave him work in his early years. Thirty seven years later, with an impressive and diverse acting career, he comes back full circle to this play as Vincent who like Han Yee has spent decades in the industry and imparting his experiences and knowledge to the young Bradley.

“I have had a great career, and over the decades I have taken on almost all the jobs offered to me, because I had a career to build and I wanted to be an actor who can make a living. I don’t consider myself famous, but I do consider myself a veteran of the industry and someone who has come with positive experiences but also trauma”.

“I am turning sixty four this year, and almost four decades of acting in Hollywood, I see myself as a survivor, who has and still is navigating the treacherous Hollywood landscape as an Asian American actor. Like Vincent, I know that what representation means in 2025 is different from what it meant back in 1988″, Han Yee passionately explained.

Playing the rising star character Bradley, is Daniel J. Kim (Cobra Kai, 9-1-1: Lone Star) standing in the shoes his co-actor Han Yee stood back in 1988. Just having recently started his acting career, Kim has taken a leaf out of Han Yee’s book in ensuring he portrays Bradley as authentically as possible. There is a little pressure because he is playing a character which Han Yee originated in 1988. More importantly, being involved in this play has taught him so much about Asian American actors experiences in Hollywood, forty years ago and now.

Kim stated that he sees Han Yee and Chang as mentors and a great sounding board where he is able to bounce ideas on how he portrays Bradley and does this character justice.

“If you ask me the question if I feel any pressure playing a character Kelvin played before, I would say yes – a little. If I miss a line during rehearsals, Kelvin will definitely remind me, in a positive encouragement way as he really wants to pass the baton down to me. When I had questions, Kelvin would always lend his time and like how Bradley sees Vincent as a mentor – this mirrors how I see Kelvin”, Kim stated.

“If you add in the experience that Jennifer has as a director, then it is like I have two seasoned mentors who are open to new ideas and are so transparent in how they nurture my acting and performance skills. In many ways, I am blessed and am so excited about the 2025 interpretation of this play”.

The big elephant in the room for Yankee Dawg You Die, is how it shows the racial stereotypes Asian American men faced in Hollywood almost forty years ago and how some of these narratives still plague Asian American male actors today. In the 1990s and prior, the stereotypes were negative, where Asian men were portrayed in Hollywood as evil people, asexual, awkward and as the butt of the joke.

Where things have changed in recent years, where Asian men are portrayed as romantic leads, super heroes and as important characters, it is still below the standard, and the Asian men are weak trope is still a factor.

Chang reinforces these points and added that she learned so much about the plight of Asian male representation in Hollywood from Han Yee – who really has seen it all.

“What is great about this play in 2025, is that Kelvin is the leading man. A young Asian American man of Kelvin and his experiences back then definitely looms large in his psyche, and throughout coordinating how this play would look like in 2025, I heard so many stories from him about how difficult it was being an Asian American man in Hollywood back in the 1980s”.

“Racial gendered stereotypes like what Asian American men went and in some ways still goes through in Hollywood have huge impacts on the actor. I feel for Kelvin. It has humbled him. We all see him as a huge figure in Hollywood and in the Asian American community, but he doesn’t see it that way”, Chang discussed.

Han Yee sees the topic of Asian male representation personally. Like what Chang stated, experiences of racism he has experienced had really limited the roles and opportunities he was able to play over the decades. He reminisced about his career and mentioned that many of the roles he was told when he was young that he was able to play all fell into the trap of negative narratives about Asian men.

This reminded him of specific scenes from the play, which really reflected what his journey and career has been like over the decades.

“There is a line in the play that talks about how Asian Americans didn’t exist back then in the 80s in Hollywood – and as Asian men, the situation was even more dire. When we were seen it was always in an untruthful light. We were pointed out as stereotypes or as very limiting characters- you know being the awkward sidekick, the bad guy or the evil one. I felt this back then as both being Asian and as a man, and it is great that now we are in an era where we see improvements, but more needs to change for a better future”.

The 2025 interpretation of Yankee Dawg You Die will play at East West Players from July 3 – July 27, 2025. Sunday July 6 marks the play’s official Opening Night. For tickets and further information about this play, please go to the East West Players website.

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