The success of the play, plus the $275,000 Doris Duke Artists prize for contribution to theater and other prestigious rewards, have given Lauren Yee the kind of year playwrights dream of. The three-city production that begins previews here Saturday is one of two productions currently making their way across the country.
3 comments:
Im from Orange County, and my hometown theatre is South Coast Rep! I never saw Cambodian Rock Band, but my school's trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival saw it there. I was really excited to read this article and see it was coming to Pittsburgh! I think the entire concept of this show is absolutely stunning, and the family connections that are celebrated in it are super cool. I love that the actors play instruments, while telling this touching story, and it creates such a strong and exciting juxtaposition. I hope I have time to catch this production!
Cambodian Rock Band shook me to my core. I saw it at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival five months ago and every bit of it has stayed with me since. The energy of the actors was beyond comparison, so vigorous that I, to this day, do not know how they don't lose their voices after every performance. And I cannot begin to fathom the emotional toll the show takes and the mental strength it takes to act in it again and again and again. Chum, the father in the show played by Joe Ngo at OSF, swings between a ditzy little man in modern times to a vital young musician before the Khmer Rouge struck to a tortured and deprived, but strong-willed, man in the Khmer Rouge's clutches. To be able to switch between these three personas quick as a whip was incredible to watch and presumably very difficult. Words really cannot describe the whirlwind of emotions I experienced watching Cambodian Rock Band from beginning to end.
Cambodian Rock Band seems like such an interesting play. This play is one of the plays we are reading in my Contemporary Women’s Playwriting class. I did not know a lot about this show except that at some point it is going to the Signature Theatre in New York. After reading this article I am more excited to read it. It sounds like something that hasn’t been done before and I’m excited to see how it will be translated on stage. The story it self is also so interesting, with also having a mini concert in the middle of it. The music is rooted in “Cambodia Oldies” which is music by artist who disappeared when the Rouge came to power. This will be cool to see live as it will tell a different story in a way that is unconventional. I’m excited to read this play and hopefully find the time to go see it downtown.
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