Actor and playwright Jeena Yi '14 will premiere the role of Melissa Han in The Balusters, a new play by Pulitzer-prize winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire. The Balusters tells the story of The Vernon Point Neighborhood Association, tackling the dynamics that exist somewhere between decorum and chaos as they debate subjects like trash can protocol and historically accurate handrailings. Conflict ensues when the newest member of the association suggests adding a stop sign to the town’s prettiest street. The cast also includes Anika Noni Rose, Carl-Cemons-Hopkins (Hacks), Margaret Colin (Gossip Girl), and Kayli Carter who starred in On The Evolutionary Function of Shame by Playwriting alum D.A. Mindell '25.
This production of The Balusters will be directed by Kenny Leon whose recent credits include Othello (2025) with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal as well as Our Town (2024). David Lindsay-Abaire is an American playwright whose play Rabbit Hole won The Pulitzer Prize in 2007, as well as Kimberly Akimbo, which he adapted into a musical winning two Tonys in 2023, for best book and best musical score.
Jeena Yi is a Los-Angeles born actress and playwright. She’s appeared in television shows including The Resident, Only Murders In The Building, and Succession. She acted in the 2023 film NYAD with Annette Benning and Jodie Foster, as well as Lapsis, a 2020 Official Selection at South by Southwest, and the short film Take Me Home, which was a 2023 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection. The Balusters marks Yi’s second Broadway credit. She played the role of “The Technician" in the 2018 production of Network directed by Ivo Van Hove starring Bryant Cranston. On her acting, The New York Times commented “Yi has timed all of her comic beats to perfection. She is the rare performer who can be serious and funny at the same time”
Yi will make her playwriting debut at The Public Theater this spring with his play Jesa. Produced by the Ma-Yi Theater Company, Jesa tells the story of four estranged Korean-American sisters reunited in Orange County to perform their father’s Jesa, a traditional Korean funeral ritual.
In addition to writing and acting, Yi also identifies as an avid baker.
Tickets for The Balusters can be purchased here.
Tickets for Jesa can be purchased here.
