Location: Queens Public Library (Elmhurst Branch) | 86-07 Broadway, Elmhurst, NY 11373

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Libao, a closeted Chinese American novelist, confronts the tension between his sexuality and his parents’ expectations. The story is propelled by the return of Libao’s childhood friend Shan, now a realtor, to a gentrifying Elmhurst, Queens. During her visit, Libao revisits his sexual awakening and encounters with New York’s vibrant queer culture, moments that sharpen the conflict between desire and restraint. Shan’s presence ignites long-buried family tensions, leading to an emotional rupture. In its wake, Libao begins writing an autofiction imagining himself as the traditional, heterosexual son his parents always wanted. This fictionalized self becomes both mirror and release, ultimately serving as a bridge toward reconciliation.

Set in a podcast studio, Late Blooming unfolds through direct address and shifting timelines, blurring fantasy and reality as Libao reads from his newly published auto-fictional novel. As his past comes into focus, a tender yet painful story of silence, longing, and familial rupture within Chinese traditions begins to emerge.

Museum of Chinese in America, in partnership with Culture Pass, welcomes you to delve into this intimate theatrical world—where memory, fantasy, and desire intertwine in the complexities of sexual identity, orientation, and family expectations.

ABOUT Yueh-Yeh Li, Playwright

Yueh-Yeh Li is a director/playwright. His works explore sexuality, power structure and diaspora experiences, culminating often in devised, immersive and participatory theatre. Li excels at adapting modern classics, connecting them with timely sociopolitical issues. His directorial portfolio spans across plays, musical theatre, and opera. His plays cent on the theme of diasporic experiences as well as self-discovery. Rhapsody M (2021), which follows the protagonist’s journey of seeking for the sense of belonging, received support from Queens Council on the Arts. Li holds Master’s in Performance Studies, NYU. 

Li is an alumnus of Drama League’s New York Directing Fellowship, Target Margin Theater’s Institute Fellowship, and a member of Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. Dennis worked with The Living Theatre and is Al Límite Collective’s founding member, dedicated to utilizing theater as a media to address present socioeconomic challenges. www.dennisyuehyehli.com

This project is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.