Help Us Preserve CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND in High Quality!!

UPDATE 3/15/2025. YO THIS IS BANANAS.

We surpassed the goal in 20 hrs and it's still going!! We found out during intermission and I (Jane) bawled. You can see the vid on our insta @cambodianrockband. We are speechless, CAN'T BELIEVE YOU MADE THIS HAPPEN, and are blown way by your love. Thank you Thank you Thank you. We'll say it a thousand times. We decided to continue the campaign until MARCH 31 as planned, with the extended goal below that would help pay for extra filming options.

EXTENDED GOAL: $25,000

At $25,000, it will help pay for an extra 8-hour day shoot that focuses on close-ups, to be weaved into the recording. It'll help pay for extra time with the camera team, cast, and crew.

Regardless of the amount that this campaign ends on, East West Players will be the sole beneficiary of the funds, first to be used toward the recording and all expenses/wages relating to the archive. Anything left over (if any) will stay with the theatre and be used at their discretion. We love EWP and theatre needs our support, especially now.

We will continue this campaign until MARCH 31.

Thank you, again. And again.

WHO WE ARE

We are the cast of Cambodian Rock Band along with East West Players, the nation's longest-running Asian American theatre, and Outside In Theatre, a new nonprofit theatre in Los Angeles. Written by Lauren Yee and directed by Chay Yew, this production has been presented at South Coast Repertory (OC), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Off-Broadway Signature Theatre (NY), Alley Theatre (Houston), Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage (DC), ACT/5th Ave (Seattle), and now at East West Players (LA).

As a cast, it's been an absolute honor and joy to return home to LA with this piece. It's where Lauren discovered the spark of a story, and more importantly, a home to the largest Cambodian population outside of Cambodia. Our eyes continue to stay on sharing it with the world in the most caring and honest way possible as artists. We believe in music, art, and the power they hold as educators, activists, and healers. Given our national moment, this piece startlingly echoes our current geopolitical climate. As one reviewer wrote, it is "...raw and raucous as it is timely." (Evan Henerson, Broadway World)

WHAT WE ARE RAISING FUNDS FOR

In the final two weeks of our run, we are raising funds for 1) a high-quality recording of the show and 2) the recording's release online at a later date. The show will be preserved and accessible to Khmer communities and audiences around the world once it becomes available. TIMELINE: Fundraising Campaign will end on MARCH 31!

This came out of love and demand for the show. We simply want to preserve and share. It was not a part of EWP's general budget - because while every show gets a single-camera archive, it is not allowed to be made public per actor union rules. So we need extra resources to capture the visual and music elements in high quality and secure an online infrastructure for sharing.

WHAT YOU'll GET

Donors of any amount will have their names listed in the credits at the end of the final video. Thank you for helping us preserve this LA production of CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND!!

The recording will have all live elements intact with mastered sound, with some emphasis on close-ups for added intimacy and expression by cast members. It'll be a new way to see this show!

BUDGET: $15,000 Total

Breakdown -

$8000 - Recording video, audio, crew, gear, and editing.

A multi-camera-angle capture edited together. It will be taped with audience on Thursday, March 20 - 8pm show.

$7000 - Releasing online by EWP. Similar to a physical production with a limited engagement, ticketing, and viewing window, except it'll be available online worldwide! This budget is for sound mastering, creative team compensation, licensing, and use of the online platform.

Funds will go directly to East West Players to pay for all expenses associated with this endeavor.

CHALLENGES

Time crunch - Fundraising Campaign will end on MARCH 31! From when this was launched, we have 9 shows left and a little over two weeks to raise funds. The first $8000 will go straight to making the recording. Then we must raise the last $7000 in order to secure the release - this is key!

A WORD FROM PLAYWRIGHT LAUREN YEE

"Seven years ago, my play CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND exploded onto the American theater scene with a genre-defying production at South Coast Rep. Now Chay Yew’s indelible production has returned home to Southern California at the historic East West Players, with four of our original cast members.

It captures Joe Ngo’s Obie-winning and very personal performance as Chum, and reunites him with original cast member Daisuke Tsuji as Duch. The performances are killer. The direction is breathtaking. And the music never fails to move.

Help me preserve this piece of Asian American theater history and make it accessible to the Khmer community, who have been our partners with us throughout this.

This show has changed my life. And I want to do everything I can to share the work with those who have joined us on this journey and those who will experience it for the first time."

A MESSAGE FROM DIRECTOR CHAY YEW

There are many questions that playwright Lauren Yee poses in her richly layered Cambodian Rock Band, but one central question remains dominant throughout the play: What would you do to survive? Will you do the unimaginable to ensure your family’s safety? What happens to your dreams, your life when the political climate in your country shifts? 

 

With incredible theatrical deftness, brutal honesty, pure heart and wit, Cambodian Rock Band is also a unique dramaturgical hybrid of its own: fusing history, politics, rock concert, family drama fashioning into a potent work of art. Lauren’s play also breathes life to the timely issues in our divided nation: immigration, race, genocide and human rights abuses; the rights of refugees and emigres; the consequences of apathy when a country shifts under a brutal regime; and the destruction of freedom of expression in the midst of political transitions and upheavals.

 

In Lauren’s astute eyes, one thing remains consistent throughout our often temperamental world: the constancy, the resilience and enduring power of art and artists. Cambodian Rock Band celebrates the indomitable legacy of art and music; how artists capture our individual and national spirit and hopes; and the uncanny ability of art to inspire, to affirm our humanity, and to bring us together.

FINAL THOUGHTS

LA might be our last stop for a while, but we hope you'll join us in continuing this ride. Anything helps, no amount is too little. We ask for your support out of love for this historical piece that we are so proud of. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!! ♥️♥️

With all our love,

Joe, Dais, Abe, Jane, Kelsey, & Tim

ps. Lauren's text on 3/13: "Yall are def my favorite child. (Shhhh) Though it's prob very clear."

Find us on Insta @cambodianrockband

East West Players in community with Outside In Theatre

PRESS

"...as raw and raucous as it is timely." - Broadway World

"Yee has made her characters so joyfully and ridiculously human." - Los Angeles Times

"...an all around essential and frighteningly relevant play for the ages." - Nerds of Color

Feature on LAist by Josie Huang

March 9, 2025, cast with Lauren, Rithy, Pita, Matt, & Caylee

Lauren at closing party 2018, South Coast Repertory Premiere

CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND by Lauren Yee

featuring music by Dengue Fever

Cast

Kelsey Angel Baehrens, Abraham Kim, Tim Liu

Jane Lui, Joe Ngo, Daisuke Tsuji

Understudies: Zandi De Jesus, Alex Hsu, Kevin Vann

Creative Team

Director: Chay Yew

Co-Music Directors: Jane Lui & Matt MacNelly

Original Costume Design: Linda Cho

Additional Costume Design: Ashphord Jacoway

Co-Sound Designers: Megumi Katayama & Mikhail Fiksel

Assistant Sound Designer: Ben Truppin-Brown

Original Scenic Design: Takeshi Kata

Production Scenic Design: Mina Kinukawa

Lighting Design: Derek Jones

Projections Design: Jason H. Thompson

Hair & Makeup Design: Yoko Haitz

Properties Coordinator: Glenn Michael Baker

Fight Director: Cesar Cipriano

Associate Director: Graham Schmidt

Tour Production & Stage Manager: Merrick Williams

Stage Manager: Edward Khris Fernandez

Assistant Stage Manager: Jenny Park

Assistant Costume Designer: JJ Javier, Shaunte Williams

Cambodian Consultant: Sokunthary Svay

Producer: Jane Lui