Digital Stories Collection

Lauren Yee’s alternative musical play Cambodian Rock Band explores the intergenerational impacts of genocide through the lens of drama, comedy, and music. At the story’s core is also one of migration – a desperate escape from Cambodia to abroad, and then a promising return to Cambodia – and the realization that no matter where we travel, we are followed by our histories.

The play follows Chum and Neary, a father-daughter duo grappling with the painful history of the Cambodian Genocide in the wake of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Neary, an American-born young woman of Cambodian descent moves to Cambodia to uncover the truth about the newly discovered eighth known survivor of the gruesome S-21 (Tuol Sleng) concentration camp. Chum, her father, in a desperate attempt to prevent her from uncovering the truth, surprises her in his home country of Cambodia, where the two reconcile Chum’s personal history of the Cambodian Genocide in a beautiful display of the unbreakable bond of family.

On March 12th, 2025, the play’s opening night in Vancouver took place on the Stanley Industrial Alliance stage. It was a full house. Audience members of all ages and backgrounds crowded the reception area before the show began. There was a nervous buzz in the air, an excitement that is unique to the live arts. As we settled into our seats, I took note of the set up of the stage: drums, microphones, and keys.

Accordingly, the first act opened with a full rock band: drums (Jun Kung), electric guitar (Jay Leonard Juatco), bass (Raugi Yu), keys (Kayla Sakura Charchuk), and the powerful, rock-operatic voice of Kimberly-Ann Truong. The cast performed a 70s-style surf-rock song in Khmer, powerfully signaling to their Vancouver audience that the story they are about to tell is as much for us as it is for those of Cambodian descent. Leaving no opportunity for things to be lost in translation, the Cyclos performed both Cambodian “oldies,” and contemporary hits by the Los Angeles-based band Dengue Fever.

Yee weaves Chum and Neary’s narrative with Duch’s, the captain of S-21. He starts off as a cheeky, anonymous, all-knowing narrator who constantly breaks the fourth wall. Into the second act, however, he begins to drop hints that he may not be such a reliable storyteller. We learn his true identity and we witness his brutality. In a compelling aside, he states to the audience: “Whoever tells the story tells the truth,” forcing us to question his trustworthy-ness. In doing so, he emphasizes the importance of having Chum be the narrator of his own story and how much courage it takes to do so.

The story told by Cambodian Rock Band is one that captures the very spirit of the Pacific-Canada Heritage Centre – Museum of Migration. In a compelling scene, Chum says, “Today, someone remembered me. Today, someone said my name. So, today is a good day.”

Yee presents us with a history that could have easily been forgotten and the courage required to tell it. Our stories shape who we are. Chum’s character reminds us to keep telling our stories, to be brave, and to say the names of those who deserve justice.