Where Elephants Weep, a Cambodian Opera

     With the second largest Cambodian population in the U.S., Lowell high school is 34% Cambodian. The success of Where Elephants Weep was registered in a starry-eyed, red headed American Cambodian high school student who glowed when her teacher asked how she liked the performance The air was electric.
A Cambodian-American Opera Project.

      Where Elephants Weep is a new commission by Cambodian Living Arts and a project of World Education founded by Cambodian genocide survivor Arn Chorn-Pond, a Reebok Human Rights Award recipient. Music by Dr. Him Sophy a Russian trained Cambodian composer was complemented by text by New York librettist Catherine Filloux, the award-winning playwright of Eyes of the Heart and Photographs From S-21 (performed in Lowell, 2002).

    For generations of Cambodians and Americans, East and West were bridged in a mind-boggling hybrid opera powerfully sung in English and Khmer with bilingual subtitles.

   Choreographer Seán Curran worked with opera director Victor Moad and Lowell's Angor Dance Troupe to integrate Khmer classical movement with modern staging.

    With astonishing grace, composer Him Sophy wove together a mix of American musicals, Cambodian rock, rap and traditional Cambodian lullabies, wedding songs and funeral music. Inspired by  "all the American operas" Sophy said he was influenced by Rent, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables when he lived in New York as a Cambodian Living Arts artist-in-residence from July 2005 to September 2006. At this time, Sophy completed his score with librettist, Catherine Filloux and met with a team of leading opera and music theater professionals.

      In Cambodia, at a month-long workshop for orchestral development Sophy worked with Cambodian musicians along with director Scot Stafford and conductor Kay Roberts concluding in a November 2006 public presentation of the orchestral score.  Before opening night, an injury kept Roberts from conducting and Stafford stepped in.

      Wanting this fusion to work was the evening's unspoken pact. And, it worked as momentum gathers everything into its wake. . .in the perpetually transformative way American identity is shaped and that many believe is unique. Startling juxtapositions occurred when rappers in grey, moved like daggers, as if unseen, among delicate actors of this epic love story, to deliver wry commentaries meant to jangle.

     Some accommodations of Eastern instruments to Western standards harmonized cultural exchanges. Lilting, airborne cadences from traditional Cambodian instruments - gongs, bamboo flutes, long-neck lutes naturally floated in and out of sync with rock's electric instruments. To create a fuller sound akin to rock, the Angor-era xylophone or roneat pluah was altered by adding a second set of wooden bars and by using four mallets instead of two. In the Cambodian Daily, Suzy Khimm wrote "Even cell phone ring tones have a place in the score—the villain answers his phone to a reincarnated tune of a Khmer Rouge propaganda song".

    The staging included a temple's golden contours drawn in draped fabric and two elevated platforms that contained a Khmer rock band, traveling from Cambodia, a traditional Khmer orchestra, and a string quartet from the New England Orchestra. Lighting set the mood and unified disparate elements that underscored the need for harmony.

    An epic love story, Where Elephants Weep is an updated "Tum Teav," or Cambodian  "Romeo and Juliet " that begins in the U.S. in 1963: a narrator reminds us, a man named King had a dream, the Beatles were popular musicians and then, the dream was deferred when Kennedy was killed. Decades later, Sam, a successful Cambodian-American returns to his native land, as sibling Dara advised him to make peace with his culture and his role as a child soldier in Pol Pot's brutal regime that nearly purged traditional culture. A chance encounter in a temple develops into a romance when a betrothed Cambodian pop star Bopha meets an unsuspecting Sam. Countless imbroglios teeter from Opera into soap opera and back again. Dancers in a Cambodian disco sang drunkenly "Erase me; save me" as if culture were so simply negotiated. A catharsis of sorts occurs when Dara's flute lesson in the idyllic countryside unleashes Sam's good memories of Cambodia, by contrast, it reveals how war memories left depression and an inability to face himself or develop relationships. Subplots evolve. Bopha flees her arranged marriage and meets Sam in the temple where he returns complete his spiritual passage as a monk. There's a tragic but triumphant ending: Bopha's hard-won freedom causes her to live in hiding but, with the understanding that she and Sam must part despite their enduring love. When the chorus sings 'I want to leave a trace' it elevates this bi-cultural condition towards hope, vanishing the earlier wish to be 'erased' (and saved) which reflected Pol Pot's puritan ideology, not a hybrid reality.

Biographies of Artistic Team:
DR. HIM SOPHY, Composer, Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Him Sophy was born into a musical family in Prey Veng province, Baphnom district, Khum Reak Tchey and Kok Sandaek village. In 1972 he began his studies in music at the music school of the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, with French professors Madame Denos and Monsieur Guy Alain Hayer. From 1975 to 1979 his musical studies were suspended due to the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge. Him Sophy resumed his music studies in 1981 at the School of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh. In 1985 he received a full scholarship from the former Soviet Union to continue his studies in Moscow. He studied piano with Professor Lvovitch Bogomolov and Anatolievna Rima and composition with Professor Konstantin Batashow and Professor Roman Ledeniev. Him Sophy also studied musicology with famous Russian musicologist, Dr. Yri Kholopov. He earned a Master of Fine Arts in music composition in 1993 and in 1995 received a Doctor of Musical Art in Composition. He completed his PhD dissertation in musicology in 1998. Him Sophy received a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council as a visiting scholar in the United States in 2001 and 2002. Him Sophy is a professor of music at the Royal University of Fine Arts and the Royal Academy of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. New compositions include: "The Mondolkiri Landscape" for cello and recorder (Khmer traditional woodwind khloy); "I walkÂ…and I cry on the island Poulouway" for recorder (khloy) and flute, alto flute, bass flute; "The onomatopoeia of rhythm of ensemble Pin Peat" for recorder (khloy) and flute, alto flute, bass flute. Publications include: "The System of Polychords in Khmer Music" Khmer Idea; Phnom Penh, 1997, No 6 & 7; "Recognizing the Problem of Sound in Khmer Music", Khmer Idea. Works published in Moscow by Chronograf.

CATHERINE FILLOUX, Librettist, New York: Filloux is the librettist for the opera, The Floating Box (Composer Jason Kao Hwang, Critics Choice, Opera News, 2005; CD New World Records; Premiere Asia Society). Filloux is a playwright who has written extensively about Cambodia. Her recent plays include: Lemkin's House (McGinn-Cazale Theatre & 78th Street Theatre Lab, NYC; Kamerni Theatre, Sarajevo, Bosnia); The Beauty Inside (New Georges, NYC); Eyes of the Heart (National Asian American Theatre Co., NYC); Silence of God (Contemporary American Theater Festival, WV, New Play Commission); Mary and Myra (CATF & Todd Mountain Theater, NY); Arthur's War (Theatreworks/USA, NYC); Photographs From S-21, a short play which has toured the world; Escuela Del Mundo (Commission toured by OSU, Columbus). The Beauty Inside was translated into Arabic for a workshop at ISADAC in Morocco. Filloux's other plays have been produced in New York and around the U.S. Awards: PeaceWriting Award (Omni Center for Peace), Roger L. Stevens Award (Kennedy Center), Eric Kocher Playwrights Award (O'Neill), Callaway Award (New Dramatists), Fulbright Senior Specialist (Cambodia & Morocco), Inge Residency, Thurber Playwright-In-Residence, Asian Cultural Council Grant, Winner Nausicaa Franco-American Play Contest, Rockefeller MAP Fund, 4-time Heideman Award Finalist. Oral History Project: Circle of Grace with Cambodian Women's Group, Bronx, NY. French-English Translation: Ubu Rep, NYC and various periodicals. Her play Eyes of the Heart was developed for Lifetime TV. She served as a Juror for the 2004 MES International Theater Festival in Sarajevo. Filloux's plays are published by Playscripts, Inc., Smith & Kraus,Vintage, Dramatic Publishing & Seagull. Her articles appear in American Theatre, Manoa, The Drama Review and Contemporary Theatre Review, UK. She received her M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing at Tisch, NYU, and her French Baccalaureate with Honors in Toulon, France. She is a co-founder of Theatre Without Borders.
JOHN BURT, Executive Producer, New York: Founding Chair Emeritus of Cambodian Living Arts, a project of World Education founded by Cambodian genocide survivor and Reebok Human Rights Award recipient, Arn Chorn-Pond. The PBS documentary, The Flute Player, about Chorn-Pond and his work with Cambodian master artists premiered on PBS, 2003; nominated for Emmy Award, 2004. Mr. Burt was the founding producer of the Traveling Artists and Performers Company in 1978, one of the earliest arts-in-education programs in New England; producing artistic director of Clayton Opera House in upstate New York, 1986-1991; produced and commissioned original music theater, including: Changing the Silence, national tour; The Slick of '76: A musical Catastrophe, regional run; Almost September, regional runs (San Francisco Bay Award for Best Musical); The Garbage Can-tata, regional run and national tour (musical and education video co-produced by United Nations for the 1992 Earth Summit); The Eco-Theater Festival (co-produced by New York State Parks); Cultural Baggage (TV pilot and award winning education video co-produced with Moorhead Kennedy Institute); Broadway credits: associate producer, Starmites. Executive producer of the Children of War Theater and Film Project under the artistic direction of Obie Award director, Lawrence Sacharow of River Arts Repertory and with Academy Award winning documentary film director, Barbara Kopple. Premiered New York's Asia Society in 1999, featuring Yolanda King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King; toured Global Peace Conference at The Hague, The Netherlands and completed its international tour at the International Theater Olympics in Moscow, Russia. Mr Burt has an advanced degree in expressive arts therapy and psychodrama and has been active in a practice or coaching for over twenty years.

KAY GEORGE ROBERTS, Conductor: conducting credits include the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, the National Symphony (DC), and Nashville Symphony. She premiered Jennifer Higdon's Fanfare Ritmico at the Blossom Festival with the Cleveland Orchestra and conducted the 2004 Sphinx Gala Concert in Carnegie Hall. She is the conductor for Opera North's presentations of Leslie Burrs' award-winning opera, Vanqui, with a libretto by the American Book Award winner, John A. Williams. An advocate for new and overlooked music, critics praise her "precision and passion" in leading audiences "to make new discoveries." She has also served as a cover conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of Fisk University, Ms. Roberts is an accomplished violinist and the first woman to earn the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting from Yale University where she studied with Otto-Werner Mueller. Ms. Roberts also attended Tanglewood, where she worked with Leonard Bernstein, Gustav Meier, and Seiji Ozawa. A champion of music education, Roberts is a professor of music at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and director of the UML String Project, an after-school string training program for Lowell public school children. She is the founder and music director of the Lowell-based New England Orchestra (NEO), which promotes American music and organized the 2004 Chadwick Festival, celebrating the 150th birthday of Lowell's native son, composer George Whitefield Chadwick. In 2007, NEO will celebrate native son Jack Kerouac with a The Beat Goes On concert, when the original scroll of On the Road returns to Lowell. The 2004 Emmy-awarded documentary on diversity in classical music, Sphinx Competition: Breaking the Sound Barrier, profiles her career and work as guest conductor of the Sphinx Symphony. The recipient of many honors, she was presented with a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from the U.S. House of Representatives for her "outstanding and invaluable service to the community."

SCOT STAFFORD, Music Director, San Francisco: Music compositions featured in numerous festivals (Mill Valley Film Festival, 2006), films (THE DANCE (dir. H.Rhodes, 2002)), television commercials (Microsoft, Comcast, Southwest Airlines), and pop recordings ("Most Oustanding Debut" nom., California Music Awards, 2000). Studied composition with Andrew Imbrie and Jay Alan Yim, musicology with Charles Rosen and Howard Mayer Brown, ethnomusicology with Philip Bohlmann and theory with Richard Cohn and Easley Blackwood. Founder and Director of Studio CLA, an ethnographic recording studio archiving traditional Khmer music and teaching modern audiovisual production arts to aspiring young engineers and filmmakers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

VICTOR MAOG, Director, started his artistic career as a performer with the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe and has gone on to create works that have reached over half the continental United States. He has collaborated at Hartford Stage, The New Group, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ma-Yi Theatre, Lark Play Development Center, MCC Theater, New Dramatists, and directed/taught for NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Fordham University, and others. He also devised Journey Theatre for Immigrants' Theatre Project - an ensemble creation with international victims of war and torture. His innovative work has been recognized with the NEA/TCG Career Development Award for Directors, Paula Altvater Fellowship at Cornerstone Theatre Company, Van Lier Directing Fellowship at Off Broadway's Second Stage Theatre, and the U.S. Dept. of Labor's Presidential Award for Outstanding Academic Enrichment for his collaborations with gang youth with the Theatre Arts Project of San Joaquin County, where he served as Artistic Director. A member of the Lincoln Center Theater Director's Lab and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Mr. Maog is featured in the educational text, It Doesn't Take A Genius (McGraw-Hill), and recently served as a U.S. Delegate to the 31st International Theatre Institute/UNESCO World Congress in Manila. This season, he is a resident director for The Public Theater/NYU Program, under Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. He lives in New York City.

CAST
Marie-France Arcilla (Bopha) most recently performed in New York, creating the role of Blue in Shout! The Mod Musical.  She also originated the roles of Martha in The Ark (37Arts/Cast Album), Valerie in Sidd (Dodger Stages/Cast Album), Heather Sweet in Repo! (Wings), and Grace/Dottie in Making Tracks (San Jose Rep). Other credits include Miss Saigon (Kim), and Aida at North Shore Music Theatre.  She is the host of Cinema AZN, an entertainment news show on the AZN Network.Marc de la Cruz (Sam), born in Hawai'i and raised in Seattle, has performed internationally and in regional theatres across the country.  Favorite credits include The Fantasticks (Matt), The Wedding Banquet (world premiere, Asia), Cats (Munkustrap), The Secret Garden (Fakir), and the Asian American rock musical Making Tracks (Frankie/David).
Joseph Foranda's (Khan) credits include The King & I, Urinetown, Frog & Toad, The Romance of Magno Rubio, Jeff Awards for Pacific Overtures & Miss Saigon, in Chicago; The Most Happy Fella, The  Mikado, Fantasticks in Los Angeles; Miss Saigon in Boston; Pacific Overtures in London; and Miss Saigon, Shogun, Pacific Overtures on Broadway.
Eric Bondoc's (Dara) Broadway credits include Pacific Overtures,  Limonade Tous Les Jours with Alan Alda and directed by Zoe Caldwell;  Mame with Loretta Swit and Sally Kellerman;  Comedy of Errors at the Guthrie;  Song Liling in M. Butterfly; plus title roles in Peter Pan and Rizal, a one-person-play about the Philippine National Hero.
Christine Toy Johnson's (Navy) Broadway/Off-Broadway/National Tour Highlights include The Music Man, Flower Drum Song, Falsettoland, Bombay Dreams, Cats, and Merrily We Roll Along. Also: Williamstown, Huntington, NYC Opera, Minnesota Opera, Bangkok Symphony, New Haven Symphony, and television
One Life to Live (Lisa West), and Crossing Jordan among others. An award-winning writer, her play, The New Deal, was recently developed at the Roundabout Theatre Company.