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Christopher Lee is a senior who wrote, produced, directed, and acted in the play The Lost City for his senior thesis in the Department of Theatre. After graduation with degrees in Theatre and Philosophy, he plans to continue writing plays, novels, and short stories while attending law school. Chris took some time to speak with us about his experiences.
What was the theme of your play, and how did you use your research to write it?
I took a trip to China a few years ago, and Professor Reilly, my adviser, encouraged me to take a journal and take copious notes about both cultural observations and personal reflections. During my trip, I had written down the research for the elements of my play, but by the end of the trip I had memorized almost all of it. When I returned, she had me compile and cross reference the research, and I started writing my play based on this research. It was a hard balance to make it an entertaining piece and at the same time make it historically and culturally accurate. I didn't want to just make the play into a "the more you know" kind of show. I wanted it to be a human experience with elements of the research within it.
The Lost City is semi-autobiographical play about a young Asian American man who goes to China but doesn't know anything about the culture in China. He easily gets lost in the first few days; however, he meets this girl who is very knowledgeable and intelligent, and she helps him discover his roots. In the process, the play breaks down the thinking that "I'm American and you're Chinese"; and shows that we still have all these similar elements to each other, and so often people ignore the elements. The purpose of The Lost City is the theme that you can belong to many different cultures because there is not that much separating us as human beings.
What were the benefits of working on this project?
Because I filled all these roles as writer, producer, director, and actor, this experience really helped my time management skills. I was forced to learn to figure out in my schedule what I was doing so that I could delegate my resources in the best way when managing my cast and crew. I also gained experience in the business side of creating a play. I had an ad in the Lantern as well as sending out for different people to publicize my show. It was a huge leadership role for me. I did have a lot of collaboration with my ensemble, but in the end, many of the decisions were up to me. In the future, I hope to produce another play while I am in law school. It was good experience to be in a leadership position for the first time.
What advice would you give to current undergraduates who want to get involved in research?
Find a research topic you are passionate about. You could be doing this project for the next year or two, and you don't want to burn out. I was very passionate about this play, but even towards the end it started getting repetitious with rehearsals and other responsibilities. Whether in the form of a paper or a display or a performance piece project, find a way to express and show your research in a manner that speaks to you.
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