The new American play ‘Cambodian Rock Band’ has garnered critical and popular acclaim this year as it guides audiences through the complex association of rock ‘n’ roll music, totalitarianism and ensuing resilience during the Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia.
The play follows the relationship between a Cambodian-American father, Chum, who fled the 1970s’ Khmer Rouge regime to start a new life in the U.S., and his daughter Neary. Amid the bright lights and sounds of the music concert-like setting, the play skips back and forth between life under the Khmer Rouge and a daughter’s gradual discovering of her musician father’s past during those years.
