On stage, Cambodian Rock Band introduces audiences to Khmer rock and roll, complete with bell bottoms and shaggy hair. Off stage, the play provides older Khmer generations with an opening to reflect and share their experiences of the Khmer Rouge with younger relatives.
A touring production of the play is running at ACT Theatre in Seattle, in collaboration with 5th Avenue Theatre, through Nov. 5.
While the play centers around the intergenerational trauma of the Cambodian genocide, it also highlights the thriving music scene of the 1960s and 1970s, just before the communist regime of the Khmer Rouge cracked down. Artists mixed Khmer lyrics and sounds with guitar riffs straight from American rock and roll.
Staff with the Khmer Community of Seattle King County say the play is resonating. When KCSKC noticed the production would be coming to town, the organization reached out to ACT to put on an event around the play's run and engage the community. Stephanie Ung is the co-executive director of KCSKC.
"Khmer folks have been in the U.S. for at least 40 years," Ung said. "And not many people know what Khmer music or Khmer culture is, so I think Cambodian Rock Band can actually serve as a stepping stone to give folks a taste of what our culture is like."
The play opens in 2008 and Chum, a survivor of the genocide, is returning to Cambodia for the first time to visit his daughter, Neary, who isn’t expecting him. She is about to prosecute one of the men behind the genocide of the 1970s. Growing up, Neary struggled to connect with her father. He never talked about his experience living under the Khmer Rouge.
During her father’s stay, Neary starts to learn more about Chum and what he went through. As family secrets are revealed, the play transports audiences back to 1975.
Kunthary de Gaiffier remembers that time well. She was a young adult in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge took over, and later fled to France. She now lives in Washington, D.C.
An estimated 150,000 refugees of the regime came to the U.S. between 1975 and 1995. The Seattle metro area has the third largest Khmer population in the country, behind Los Angeles and Boston. "I could relate to the—all these young people," de Gaiffier said. "Despite the war, all they care about is music. Our life is all about music."
de Gaiffier saw Cambodian Rock Band in Seattle while visiting her son. She had seen the show before in other cities and was particularly moved by the parent-child relationship.
"There's this dialogue between father and daughter that brought tears. I saw [the play] five times and every time, I detected a little dialogue and in the scene something I missed the previous times," de Gaiffier said.
de Gaiffier was at the KCSKC event, held in between the matinee and evening performances of the play’s opening weekend. They invited the public to enjoy some Khmer food, music, and dance in ACT’s cabaret space.
Yaslynn Makein is the communications and partnerships coordinator at KCSKC and said the elders were excited to see the show.
”There's not a lot of opportunities for them to see and relate to something that, you know, really, really just like, touches base with them," Makein said.
The cabaret space filled up for the community event. Performances by Khmer youth and adults showcased a couple of traditional dances. When it was time for the Romvong – a circular dance – the elders, including de Gaiffier, took the lead. They demonstrated the hand movements and beckoned bystanders to join in.
Actor Joe Ngo was at the KCSKC event with the rest of the cast. He has been playing the father, Chum, in Cambodian Rock Band since the production premiered in 2018. "I've done this show a million times now like, and it never gets old to me," Ngo said.
In the final act, after a fight with her father, Neary winds up at the torture camp where he’d been imprisoned. Chum finds Neary there and they have a heart-to-heart. Ngo, himself the son of two survivors of the Khmer Rouge, said the play has spurred countless other conversations between parents and children, including in his own family.
"My uncle came to the show as well, not too long ago, and he came from Philadelphia," Ngo said. "And I don't think his kids ever heard anything about his time in the Khmer Rouge or his life going through the camps."
Seeing the play together gave them the opportunity to have that conversation — and connect with their Khmer culture.
