Review: Family, Heritage, and Sexuality Collide in "June is the First Fall"
June is the First Fall Written by Yilong Liu Directed by Michael Leibenluft Presented by Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America at the New Ohio Theatre March 31-April 20, 2019 L to R: Alton Alburo, Chun Cho, Karsten Otto, and Stefani Kuo in June is the First Fall . Photo Credit: Maria Baranova One of the first sounds that the audience hears in Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America’s production of Yilong Liu’s June is the First Fall is the engines of a jetliner, as young, gay Chinese man Don (Alton Alburo) returns from New York City to his family home in Hawai’i’s Manoa Valley. Don’s flight stands in for the various cross-cultural and geographical axes that impact the characters in this play; and with June is the First Fall , second-prize winner of the Kennedy Center’s 2017 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, making its New York premier, Yangtze Rep, in its 27th year, “hope[s] to give more prominence to queer Asian and Asian-American narratives” in a year that also marks ...