Film
Cambodian Rock Band (recorded performance)
Cambodian Rock Band is a recording of the East West Players stage production of Lauren Yee's play, with music by Dengue Fever.[1] It captures the production's final performance.[1]
The story
The play follows the Cambodian genocide through a musician father during the Khmer Rouge regime and his daughter in the present day.[1] The father, a survivor, returns to Cambodia after 30 years, while his daughter prepares to prosecute one of the regime's most notorious war criminals.[2] The story moves through time as father and daughter face their shared history, and music becomes a path toward healing. The show combines a play with a rock concert.[2] South Coast Repertory commissioned the play and staged it first.[3]
The play
Lauren Yee wrote the play after South Coast Repertory commissioned it in 2015, under the theater's CrossRoads Initiative. It had a staged reading at the 2017 Pacific Playwrights Festival.[4][5] Chay Yew directed the world premiere at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, which ran through March 25, 2018.[5][6]
Later productions played at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego (November 12 to December 15, 2019), Victory Gardens, City Theatre and Merrimack Repertory. Signature Theatre in New York staged it from February 4 to March 12, 2020.[7][8]
The present-day story is set in 2008. Its scenes go back to a 1970s Phnom Penh band called Cyclo and to the S-21 prison in 1978.[9][10] The actors play their own instruments and sing live, in Khmer and English, as the members of Cyclo. Most of the music is in Khmer, a mix of Dengue Fever's songs and older Cambodian hits.[9][10][8]
The play won the 2018 Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play and the 2019 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award.[8]
Production and credits
Chay Yew directed the East West Players production. Matt MacNelly and Jane Lui directed the music, and Brian Hashimoto handled video production.[1] The Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest lists Hashimoto as director of the recording.[2] The cast includes Kelsey Baehrens, Abraham Kim, Tim Liu, Jane Lui, Joe Ngo and Daisuke Tsuji.[1] The recording runs 140 minutes.[1]
Screenings
The Cambodia Town Film Festival in Long Beach gave the recording a free screening in 2026, with a question-and-answer session moderated by Munika Lay.[1] The Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest scheduled a free pre-release screening at its Dinner and Movie event on October 23, 2026.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Cambodia Town Film Festival, 2026 program book (PDF)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest, Cambodian Rock Band: Family Dinner
- ↑ Jungle Theater, Cambodian Rock Band virtual program
- ↑ NBC 7 San Diego, Award-winning playwright, UCSD alum brings 'Cambodian Rock Band' to Playhouse (November 12, 2019)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 BroadwayWorld, Review: Powerful new play Cambodian Rock Band makes world premiere at South Coast Repertory (March 19, 2018)
- ↑ Cultural Attaché, Cambodian Rock Band (March 5, 2018)
- ↑ Signature Theatre, Lauren Yee (undated)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 La Jolla Playhouse, Cambodian Rock Band (2019)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Los Angeles Times, Margaret Gray, review of Cambodian Rock Band (March 16, 2018)
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 American Theatre, Caylee So, interview with Lauren Yee (June 29, 2018)