[Rain drops]
- Some say living
in the Northwest
can soothe the spirit
and quiet
the noise within.
But for people
with stormy
personalities,
can this place
calm the force
of a louder soul?
[yelling during martial arts move]
And what if that louder
soul is legendary
martial artist Bruce Lee?
[yelling during martial arts move]
Born in San Francisco
but raised in Hong Kong,
Bruce Lee
landed in Seattle
in 1959.
He'd been getting
into street fights back
home, and his parents
worried he'd get killed.
So they sent him here...
to chill.
That chapter
in Lee's life
now takes center stage
in the Seattle
Children's Theatre play
“Young Dragon,
a Bruce Lee Story.”
- The thing that
everybody's interested in
is the movie star.
This really focuses
on the young man
before all of that,
which I think is
a really important
and foundational piece
to his story.
- Bruce
Lee shows
us in this story
that he is
maybe at times struggling
and even though
we see him
as this iconic figure,
we also see his humanity.
- Lee wrestled
with his mixed
race identity
and the pressure
to meet expectations,
fighting to stay true
to himself.
-Step, claws... step claws.
-Themes
many in the cast
relate to.
- In rehearsal,
as we were walking
through them, I had to sit
and think and go, “Oh,
that's hitting
harder today
than I expected.”
Yeah!
This is the expectations
your parents
have for you.
This is what it means
to be an Asian American,
about not being Chinese
enough.
Always getting compared
to everyone else.
- I love my mother.
One of my first memories
of my mother,
who is a Korean mom
all the way,
is like her,
like whispering
in my ear like...
“You should be
a doctor.”
So yes,
that expectation
is very real.
But, it's
encouraging to know
that, you know,
even Bruce Lee,
to some degree, had to
push through
that obstacle.
♪♪
[yelling during martial arts move]
- As you can imagine,
any performance about Bruce Lee’s life
features complex fight choreography.
Surprisingly, the cast has little
experience with martial arts.
[yelling during martial arts move]
-Nope . Just this.
I'm just kidding.
[Yelling while fighting]
Mostly I just had friends
who loved martial arts
and wanted
to show me
how much
they loved it on me.
-I certainly do not.
[punching]
I will say I had,
more of a WWF background
having an older
brother.
- There is sort of an
expectation on you
when you're an
Asian actor,
an Asian performer
to know martial arts.
I think to some degree,
I maybe
shied away from that
a little bit
more than I'm proud of.
But in preparation
for this,
it kind of
was like
making up
for a decade of
avoiding it.
- What is it
I can get you to do
reliably, consistently,
in a very short
amount of time we have?
Thankfully
for this show,
we're going to dedicate
so much time
for the fights
because it's such a fight
heavy show.
[sewing machine buzzes]
- The dedication
to detail extended
beyond the fight scenes.
The costume and props departments carefully
carefully recreated
early ‘60s clothing,
and they made fabric food
look good enough to eat.
- It's got little magnets
sewn in the corners,
a little fold,
and a little fold.
An voila!
But as long as it looks
good from three feet away
then you're golden.
- The play suggests
the rain and waters
of the Northwest
reshaped Bruce
Lee's essence.
So instead of
fighting his way
through obstacles,
he learned to flow.
- It all comes
back to like the,
the adaptability
of being like water.
Just because
you're different
perhaps gives you
more ways
to see situations
and therefore
more solutions
There's signs and symbols
of different ways
to move through the world
as opposed to stop signs.
- I am constantly in my
own life sort of
going, “Okay,
I'm faced with this now,
is it...
Do I go hard?
Do I go soft?
Do I let it go?
Do I move around it?”
- To have that like
sense of both inner peace
and simultaneous drive,
is a really hard
balance to strike.
There are so many things,
you know,
that can be frustrating
or you feel powerless.
[Drums and cymbals of dragon dance]
- “Young Dragon's” premiere
was in February 2026,
in Seattle.
From there,
it was supposed to travel
to Washington, D.C.,
but plans changed.
And like Bruce
Lee himself,
the production
had to stay fluid.
- This was the
right decision
for us at this time.
We were hearing
our community
speak louder
and louder about
maybe how they were
thinking or feeling.
This play in particular
allows us to open up
a conversation
with our young people
about the journeys
that we have to take
to find who we are,
which at the
end of the day,
those are not
necessarily political.
Those are just
a universal
human experience.
♪♪
- When the curtains
finally rose,
the “Young Dragon”
experience
seemed to hit its marks,
especially with Bruce
Lee's widow,
Linda Lee Cadwell,
who attended
the opening weekend.
- My mom
said it was so true
to heart, she was like,
“It was a little eerie...”
(Laughs)
“to watch my whole
life right there.”
But,
but she said that
they really got it right.
- For those for the diehard
Bruce Lee fans,
I hope
see a little
small Easter
eggs or snippets
that we're putting
in for them.
- What better way
to make him
and his family proud,
to embrace his image
in the way
that feels
the most fluid
for me to express.
And I think everyone
should get to play
Bruce Lee.
he is that to me,
eternal and universal.
♪♪
Watch CityStream Tuesday nights at 7 on the
Seattle Channel, or find us anytime online at SeattleChannel.org.
♪♪