Penuel: The Sammy Lee Story

Samuel "Sammy" Lee (born August 1, 1920). The first Asian American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States and the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in Olympic platform diving.

As a (half) Korean American, I'm ashamed to admit that I never heard of Sammy Lee before. It wasn't until fellow Korean American actor David Rhee went off to New York last summer to take a playwriting course and told me he had an idea of a script about Lee that I knew who he was or what he had achieved.

In case you haven't either, the fruit's of David's labors will get a first-ever public viewing this coming weekend. Local Chicago theater company Silk Road Rising will be presenting two readings of his play, Penuel: The Sammy Lee Story, on Saturday, July 11 and Sunday, July 12, both at 4:00 pm. The readings will be held at Silk Road's space in The Historic Chicago Temple Building at 77 West Washington Street. 

There will be some great local Chicago actors making David's words come to life, under the direction of Goodman/Silk Road veteran Steve Scott. I'm involved in the modest capacity of reading stage directions, and being there to support the venture.