![]() We invite people to imagine a better future. That’s why the authoritarians are afraid of us. As a rock show, there is joy in expressing ourselves. JUE: The first victims of an authoritarian regime are usually musicians, artists, actors and filmmakers. I wasn’t sure how I’d get there, but I was determined.Ĭonjuring real emotion in a safe space was a revelation, and it rescued me during my time as an English major at Yale and when I began getting hired to do it professionally.īLADE: Is the show’s music element important? I knew from that moment on how I was going to live my life. ![]() Through theater I saw people talking about things that mattered to me but couldn’t express. JUE: As a kid, I couldn’t put a sentence together in front of people. So, yes.īLADE: When did you know theater could be gratifying in this way? I have the privilege of working in a play that allows me, in my way, to respond to that. WASHINGTON BLADE: Is “Cambodian Rock Band” a world you can relate to? What’s your way in?įRANCIS JUE: Here and now LGBTQ people are being targeted with hundreds of laws - proposed and passed and SCOTUS says we can be discriminated against and women can’t be trusted with autonomy. He is also known for his recurring role of Chinese Foreign Minister Ming Chen on TV’s “Madam Secretary.” Butterfly.” His off-Broadway credits include “Good Enemy,” “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,” and “Wild Goose Dreams” (Obie Award). He’s appeared on Broadway in “Pacific Overtures,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “M. ![]() ![]() “I can safely say you’ll never see anything quite like this show it’s a roller coaster,” says Jue, a native San Franciscan turned New Yorker. The playwright melds horror with a rock concert made up of music by the Los Angeles area band Dengue Fever, and sounds from the early 1970s Cambodian psychedelic pop scene that disappeared during the genocide. Set in 2008, “Cambodian Rock Band” follows a father and daughter who travel to Phnom Penh - he’s returning to his homeland for the first time after 30 years and she’s prosecuting a notorious war criminal who played a role in the dictatorship of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, who from 1976 to 1979 killed about 2 million people. Jue snagged rave reviews along with the 2020 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for his chilling work in the show’s off-Broadway run, and now that same Chay Yew-directed production is opening at Arena Stage on Wednesday. ![]()
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