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A Love Letter to the Art and Performance of Basketball
In this anthology, three inimitable playwrights each take us to their home court, offering stories of resilience, teamwork, and determination. What this collection drives home is that much like art, sports are often both personal and political.
In Flex by Candrice Jones, the players on the 1998 Lady Train High School basketball team are all towing the line between championship aspirations and college scouting season. But the pressures come to a head when the girls turn on each other. What does it mean to weigh your individual future—one far from Plainnole, Arkansas—over the good of the team?
Lauren Yee's The Great Leap zeroes in on Manford Lum. A hotshot basketball player from San Francisco’s Chinatown, he talks his way onto a college basketball team, which is set to travel to Beijing for a “friendship” game. When they arrive, however, they find a country in the throes of the late 1980s post-Cultural Revolution era—and a brewing rebellion that will soon test the tolerance of the post-Mao Communist Party.
Finally, American Fast by Kareem Fahmy. At the center of this story is Khady Salama, college basketball phenom and her team's star player. Things come to a tipping point when the March Madness tournament coincides with Ramadan. Khady fibs and says she's observing the fast, only for her devout mother take that and run—thrusting her into the spotlight as the example of modern Muslim womanhood. To come out on top, Khady may have to admit to some foul play.
Praise for Flex
“Pulsatingly good!”
—New York Stage Review
“Critic’s Pick! A slam-dunk New York debut! Candrice Jones excels equally in sly humor and in the swift-tongued rhythms of teenage and athletic talk.”
—New York Times
“The whooping, sighing, applause and interactions of the audience make clear how sharply the play hits home.”
—Daily Beast
Praise for The Great Leap
“An exhilarating, deeply satisfying piece of work…full of bright, inquisitive, humorous life.”
—New York Magazine
“Gripping…examines culture clash; alludes to modern Chinese history; and ponders the costs of caution and courage, patience and impatience.”
—Washington Post
“The Great Leap is of, course, about more than sports…this is a ‘Leap’ worth taking.”
—Boston Globe
Praise for American Fast
“Emotional, fun, and direct…it illuminates the struggle of feeling out of place in the spaces you desire to take up.”
—BroadwayWorld
“American Fast moves at a thrilling pace without sacrificing emotional intimacy…it speaks to broader questions of intergenerational conflict, immigrant family dynamics, religious and personal identity, and so much more.”
—DC Theater Arts
“How do we navigate the delicate balance between cultural tradition and personal authenticity?…captivating, brimming with compelling tension and intricate dynamics.”
—Broad Street Review
Candrice Jones is a playwright from Dermott, Arkansas, whose mission is to write love letters for women of the American South. A A Steinberg playwright, VONA Playwriting alum, and CalArts Critical Studies MFA recipient, she has been a fellow at the Playwrights’ Center and MacDowell. Her play, FLEX, was developed at VONA, Ground Floor, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, then received a co-world premiere at TheatreSquared and Theatrical Outfit. Since, it has been produced at Lincoln Center Theater and Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul. Candrice has received virtual commissions from People’s Light and Actors Theatre of Louisville. In the spring of 2022, Candrice’s play, A Medusa Thread (KILROYS 2023) was developed in UC Santa Barbara’s Launchpad Series. Candrice currently lives in New York where she is working on commissions.
Lauren Yee is a playwright, screenwriter, and TV writer born and raised in San Francisco. She currently lives in New York City. Her plays include Cambodian Rock Band (South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, City Theatre, Merrimack Rep) and The Great Leap (Denver Center, Seattle Repertory, Atlantic Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Arts Club, InterAct Theatre, Steppenwolf). Honors: Doris Duke Artists Award, Steinberg Playwright Award, Whiting Award, Steinberg/ATCA Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award, Horton Foote Prize, Kesselring Prize, Primus Prize, Hodder Fellowship, #1 and #2 plays on 2017 Kilroys List. New Dramatists, Ma-Yi Writers’ Lab, Playwrights Realm alum. TV: Pachinko (Apple), Billions (Showtime), Interior Chinatown (Hulu), Soundtrack (Netflix). BA: Yale. MFA: UCSD.
Kareem Fahmy is a Canadian-born, NYC-based director, playwright, and screenwriter whose plays—including American Fast, Dodi and Diana, and A Distinct Society—have been produced Off-Broadway and at theatres across the country. Winner of the Woodward/Newman Playwriting Award and longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize, he is a recipient of fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Sundance, and the Bogliasco Foundation. He co-founded the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab, created the BIPOC Director Database, and was named a Rising Leader of Color by Theatre Communications Group. Kareem is currently at work on commissions from Audible, The Civilians, and Unicorn Theatre.