How playwright David Yee wrote himself into Canadian theatre history

Q24:01David Yee: How his “fascination of what’s difficult” helped him change the face of Canadian theatre

Back in December, playwright David Yee was named the 2023 Siminovitch Prize Laureate, which comes with the biggest purse in Canadian theatre. But the Toronto-based dramatist, who has revolutionized the stage for a generation of Canada's theatre artists, says he actually became a playwright purely out of necessity.

As a young theatre student at the University of Toronto, Yee was relegated to small roles in school productions. "It became clear to me that I was never going to play Romeo," he says in a conversation with Q's Tom Power. "I was never going to be in that lead actor space."

But he was always interested in writing, so he began creating works that would give himself "more to say" as an actor, he explains. "Where I could spend a bit more time on stage, where I could speak about the things that were a bit more relevant and germane to me and my experience."

Since no one was giving him lead roles, he would write them for himself. "Sometimes, you have to build the road in order to get there," he tells Power, "because nobody's going to do it for you — especially if your last name is Yee."

While writing his first professional production, lady in the red dress, which would land Yee a Governor General's Literary Award nomination, he realized he no longer wanted to play the particular part he'd envisioned for himself. In fact, he knew another actor who would be better for it. Then, as he slowly withdrew from writing with himself in mind, he found he could pen characters and moments that were "more difficult," "scarier" and "more complex" than he was willing to take on himself. 

In 2002, alongside Nina Lee Aquino, Richard Lee and Leon Aureus, Yee launched fu-GEN Theatre — a theatre company dedicated to the development of Asian Canadian theatre artists, which is today the longest-running company of its kind in Canada.

Once we stop trying to put people in easily definable boxes, then we can more easily see the connections between all of us.- David Yee

"If you build it, they will come," Yee says. When he was studying theatre, he didn't see another Asian Canadian actor on stage until his second year of school. "Before that, my reference for myself in popular culture or in entertainment was David Carradine on Kung Fu."

"A lot of us, we didn't have a way to see ourselves on stage," he continues. "So our answer was just to create so much work that our experience would be one that is a bit more recognizable, and that the next generation could see themselves and their experiences reflected on stage. And part of it is opening the doors to young creators that are speaking to their own experience." 

The subject of Yee's own writing covers considerable ground — from natural disasters and father-son relationships to examinations of faith — all observed through the lens of his unique experience. 

"Is there anything that ties it all together?" Power asks.

"Like [Walt] Whitman said, 'We contain multitudes,'" answers Yee. "And I think that once we stop trying to put people in easily definable boxes, then we can more easily see the connections between all of us."

The full interview with David Yee is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with David Yee produced by Cora Nijhawan.