CenterREP Explores Culture Clash and Basketball Brilliance in Riveting Play “The Great Leap”

     Center Repertory Company presents “The Great Leap” by San Francisco native and award-winning playwright Lauren Yee, performing March 16 through April 7, 2024 at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Dr.) in Walnut Creek, CA.

     When University of San Francisco’s college basketball team travels to Beijing in 1989 for a high-stakes exhibition game, the unfolding drama goes deeper than the strain between countries. For coaches and players, the game offers a chance to claim personal victories on and off the court. Tensions escalate right up to the final buzzer, as a pivotal historical moment collides with the action in the arena.

     Fueled by dynamic and rapid-fire dialogue, this sharp-witted dramatic comedy—partially set on the basketball courts of San Francisco’s Chinatown—explores the cultural and political risks of raising one's voice and standing one's ground.

     Seen at leading regional theatres across the country, “The Great Leap” was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. It has been deemed “a beautiful play with vibrant characters and rich history crackling with fresh dialog” and as well as  lauded it as “an exhilarating, deeply satisfying piece of work.”

     After helming last season’s “In the Heights,” celebrated regional theatre director Nicholas C. Avila returns to Center REP to direct this riveting new play.

     For tickets or more information please visit lesherartcenter.org or phone the box office at (925) 943-7469.