Cambodian Rock Band

Guitars tuned. Mic checked. Get ready to rock! This darkly funny, electric new play with music tells the story of a Khmer Rouge survivor returning to Cambodia for the first time in 30 years, as his daughter prepares to prosecute one of Cambodia’s most infamous war criminals. Backed by a live band playing contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies, this thrilling story toggles back and forth in time as father and daughter face the music of the past. Directed by Chay Yew, this intimate rock epic about family secrets is set against a dark chapter of Cambodian history.

Cambodian Rock Band was developed in The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work.

A payoff that gleams with a treasure chest’s reward… [Lauren] Yee is an infectiously joyful writer… The preposterously talented cast perform the numbers as if a concert could ward off an invasion… [Cambodian Rock Band is] true to the era’s horrors but also makes a passionate case that humankind is capable of so much more, so much better.

San Francisco Chronicle

Yee’s tonal shifts are bold and daring…[with] many smartly observed comic scenes…. The music reaches epiphanic heights in the finale…[giving] Cambodian Rock Band its high-voltage thrills.

San Jose Mercury News

Both harrowing and healing in equal measure… Yee’s plotting is masterful, a showcase of craft, and her storyline dips and darts within the constellations of artful magic… Director Chay Yew frames his sublimely magnificent cast with exquisite precision.

KQED Arts

Undeniably joyous and life-affirming… Through the brilliance of Yee’s storytelling and Chay Yew’s direction, we get to go deep inside both the joys of rock ’n’ roll and the terrors of totalitarianism.

Talkin’ Broadway

It’s powerful and moving and a joy (and, truth be told, a terror) to behold on stage. The exuberant cast keeps up with every tonal shift, time shift and musical cue in playwright Lauren Yee’s compelling story, and the experience slams the audience this way and that in the best possible way.

The use of music emphasizes the raging glory of humanity – and the human connection that art creates – even in the face of humanity at its very worst. An evening that begins as a concert ends as a transcendent event that feels enormous and full of hope.

Chad Jones’ Theater Dogs

* Indicates a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.