By NANCYE TUTTLE, Sun Staff
Lowell Sun (Mass., USA)
LOWELL -- Organizers have dubbed it "where the Mekong meets the Merrimack," and it will truly be an East meets West collaboration when Where Elephants Weep comes to town in April.
The American debut of the new contemporary Cambodian-American folk opera will take place in three fully staged workshop performances April 27-29 at the Lowell High School auditorium.
The event will mark the culmination of months of collaboration among city cultural and civic leaders and the opera's creators and producers.
"It's an amazing process to see a community galvanize so quickly to bring the show here," said New York producer John Burt at a press conference yesterday at the Mogan Cultural Center.
"It brings an incredible technical and culturally rich production here. The collaboration includes many city partners, including a dizzying array of Cambodian organizations and community groups," said LZ Nunn, executive director of the Cultural Organization of Lowell and a co-director of the coalition.
"There's great spirit behind it. It's definitely unprecedented in terms of coalition-building and partnerships," said Samkhann Khoeun, founder of Cambodian Expressions and the other director.
In a city famous for partnerships, more than 20 major and supporting partners have banded together to raise money and offer in-kind services to bring the opera here.
At initial talks in March, some were concerned whether the necessary $230,000 to $250,000 could be raised to bring Where Elephants Weep to Lowell.
To date, said Khoeun, $200,000 has been raised -- $100,000 from Cambodian Living Arts, $50,000 from the Parker Foundation and $50,000 from several Lowell partners. Additional funds will be raised through sponsorships, advertisements and ticket sales.
Where Elephants Weep, commissioned in 2003, is the latest project of Cambodian Living Arts, which was founded in 1998 by Burt and Arn Chorn-Pond, a Cambodian refugee and former Lowell resident who was adopted by Americans.
They are reviving the arts in Cambodia under the auspices of Boston-based World Education, an organization that improves lives in poor countries through economic and social development.
The new opera is loosely based on the Tum Teav story, which is Cambodia's Romeo and Juliet. It tells the story of two young Cambodian-American men -- Sam and Dara -- who return to Cambodia to find their roots and pay respect to their ancestors. The love interest is Bopha, a 20-year-old Cambodian karaoke star, whose brother is manipulating her career.
"Our goal was to find a dramatic way to tell the story of young Cambodians returning to their homeland. It's epic, so operatic, with so much going on, that it seemed logical to do it as an opera," said Burt.
Bringing it to Lowell, with the second largest Cambodian-American population in the country, was logical.
"This is my story and relevant to so many here," said Khoeun.
Unlike classical opera, Where Elephants Weep is a hybrid musical, using several styles, including traditional Cambodian instruments, Western classical music and contemporary rock. Him Sophy, a Cambodian composer who trained in Russia, was commissioned to compose it. Members of the Angkor Dance Troupe of Lowell will work with producers to help choreograph the production.
Burt and music director Kay George Roberts of UMass Lowell, who spearheaded the effort to bring the opera here, will go to Cambodia next week to work with Sophy.
Casting will soon take place locally and in New York. The cast and musicians will arrive in Lowell in March to rehearse, run workshops with high school students and the community and reach out to Cambodians here.
"This is an epic piece of work and an epic community venture," said Burt.
Nancye Tuttle's e-mail address is ntuttle@lowellsun.com.
The American debut of the new contemporary Cambodian-American folk opera will take place in three fully staged workshop performances April 27-29 at the Lowell High School auditorium.
The event will mark the culmination of months of collaboration among city cultural and civic leaders and the opera's creators and producers.
"It's an amazing process to see a community galvanize so quickly to bring the show here," said New York producer John Burt at a press conference yesterday at the Mogan Cultural Center.
"It brings an incredible technical and culturally rich production here. The collaboration includes many city partners, including a dizzying array of Cambodian organizations and community groups," said LZ Nunn, executive director of the Cultural Organization of Lowell and a co-director of the coalition.
"There's great spirit behind it. It's definitely unprecedented in terms of coalition-building and partnerships," said Samkhann Khoeun, founder of Cambodian Expressions and the other director.
In a city famous for partnerships, more than 20 major and supporting partners have banded together to raise money and offer in-kind services to bring the opera here.
At initial talks in March, some were concerned whether the necessary $230,000 to $250,000 could be raised to bring Where Elephants Weep to Lowell.
To date, said Khoeun, $200,000 has been raised -- $100,000 from Cambodian Living Arts, $50,000 from the Parker Foundation and $50,000 from several Lowell partners. Additional funds will be raised through sponsorships, advertisements and ticket sales.
Where Elephants Weep, commissioned in 2003, is the latest project of Cambodian Living Arts, which was founded in 1998 by Burt and Arn Chorn-Pond, a Cambodian refugee and former Lowell resident who was adopted by Americans.
They are reviving the arts in Cambodia under the auspices of Boston-based World Education, an organization that improves lives in poor countries through economic and social development.
The new opera is loosely based on the Tum Teav story, which is Cambodia's Romeo and Juliet. It tells the story of two young Cambodian-American men -- Sam and Dara -- who return to Cambodia to find their roots and pay respect to their ancestors. The love interest is Bopha, a 20-year-old Cambodian karaoke star, whose brother is manipulating her career.
"Our goal was to find a dramatic way to tell the story of young Cambodians returning to their homeland. It's epic, so operatic, with so much going on, that it seemed logical to do it as an opera," said Burt.
Bringing it to Lowell, with the second largest Cambodian-American population in the country, was logical.
"This is my story and relevant to so many here," said Khoeun.
Unlike classical opera, Where Elephants Weep is a hybrid musical, using several styles, including traditional Cambodian instruments, Western classical music and contemporary rock. Him Sophy, a Cambodian composer who trained in Russia, was commissioned to compose it. Members of the Angkor Dance Troupe of Lowell will work with producers to help choreograph the production.
Burt and music director Kay George Roberts of UMass Lowell, who spearheaded the effort to bring the opera here, will go to Cambodia next week to work with Sophy.
Casting will soon take place locally and in New York. The cast and musicians will arrive in Lowell in March to rehearse, run workshops with high school students and the community and reach out to Cambodians here.
"This is an epic piece of work and an epic community venture," said Burt.
Nancye Tuttle's e-mail address is ntuttle@lowellsun.com.
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