“King of the Yees” is billed as a “kind of true” story about the disappearance of playwright Lauren Yee’s father Larry Yee, a prominent resident of San Francisco’s Chinatown, after the California politician for whom he long volunteered, Leland Yee, was arrested for corruption. But Lauren’s encounter with a Chinese Lion singing and dancing to “All That Jazz” may not be the true part; nor her shootout with a gangster named Shrimp Boy; nor her quest to get hold of Chinatown’s strongest whiskey, its sweetest oranges, and its loudest firecrackers all by sundown in order to find her father, having been instructed to do so by a trio of traditionally-garbed elders whom she encounters by entering through a mystical Chinese door. “King of the Yees,” in other words, is more kind of surreal than kind of true.

Yee, an inventive playwright who has gained acclaim for her ability to mix high-jinx comedy with dark politics in “Cambodian Rock Band” and last season’s “Mother Russia.,” wrote “King of the Yees” before those more substantive plays, First produced nine years ago in Chicago, “Yees” has been performed in regional theaters across the country ever since, an indication of its appeal as an entertainment.  Yee uses elements of her personal biography and that of her father to offer both a glancing historical tour of Chinatown and a glimpse into Chinese-American culture; the story of her relationship with her father is a common American one of ethnocultural continuity and drift from generation to generation.  But if there is a serious intent detectable in the “King of the Yees,” and some genuinely warm and poignant moments, they are upstaged not just by Lauren’s fanciful adventures, but by  an overeager display of metatheatrical noodling.

“King of the Yees” begins Larry Yee (the always wonderful Francis Jue) interrupting the rehearsal for the play “King of the Yees” by his daughter Lauren Yee (Kelly Marie Tran.) The rehearsal is taking place in the Yee Fung Toy Family Association, the 150-year-old men’s club in which Larry is heavily involved (as was his father and grandfather.)  The “real” Larry manages to derail the planned scenes between the character Larry (David Shih) and the character Lauren (Maureen Sebastian), much to the exasperation of the “real” Lauren. The rehearsal never seems to get back on track. There are a subsequent series of scenes between the two “actors” (Shih and Sebastian) that are not quite comic routines, but close to it; at one point, she admits she is actually Korean, and so he teaches her to say “Chinese” like a Chinese person would. The whole scene is their repeating “Chinese” over and over again.
Meanwhile, the “real” Larry starts chatting with the audience, asking whether there are any Yees. He singles out an Asian man, who says, no, his name is Danny Ma.
“Ma?” Larry replies. “The mas, they’re our cousins.”

Danny Ma is actually cast member Jon Norman Schneider. He, Shih and Sebastian each portray some half dozen characters, one more colorful than the next.

Early on, Sebastian portrays Jenny Pang, a supposed member of the audience whom Larry calls on after “Danny Ma.” Jenny is full of complaints about “King of the Yees,” because of Lauren’s failure “to tackle the bigger questions facing Chinatown.

“Like what?” Lauren asks.

“The undocumented restaurant workers, the elder abuse, the SROs. None of her fliers were translated into Chinese.”

“So?” Lauren replies.

“If she’s not reaching out to the Chinese community, then who is she making this play for?” Jenny says.

“Them,” Larry says, motioning to the audience. “The Jews.”

It’s cheeky – and kind of true.

King of the Yees
Signature Theater through November 15
Running time: 2 hours and 10 minutes with one 15-minute intermission
Tickets: $56 – $167
Written by Lauren Yee
Directed by Joshua Kahan Brody
Scenic Design, Krit Robinson
Costume Design, Michelle J .Li
Lighting Design, Jiyuon Chang
Sound Design, Fan Zhang
Wigs/Hair and Makeup Design, Tommy Kurzman
Illusions Design, Steve Cuiffo
Dialect Coach/Cantonese Language Consultant, Ka-Ling Cheung
Cast: Francis Jue as Larry, Kelly Marie Tran as Lauren, Jon Norman Schneider, Maureen Sebastian, David Shih

Photos by Han Jie Chow