CISM Talk: Lauren Yee and Senon Williams: The Music of Cambodian Rock Band
February 10, 2021
3:30 – 5 PM PST

In this conversational talk, playwright Lauren Yee and musician Senon Williams discuss the music behind Yee’s award-winning play Cambodian Rock Band—equal parts comedy, history, mystery and rock concert—about the resilient bond of family and the enduring power of music. The play thrusts us into the life of a young woman trying to take down a Khmer Rouge war criminal thirty years after her father fled Cambodia. Yee will present her work in conversation with collaborator Senon Williams, a member of long-term LA-based band Dengue Fever, to describe the play’s mix of contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies, and the importance of this music for Cambodian and Cambodian American narratives of identity and personal history.

Lauren Yee is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and TV writer born and raised in San Francisco. She currently lives in New York City.

Senon Williams is a visual artist and musician. He performs in the LA-based Cambodian rock band Dengue Fever.

Organized by UCSB Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music, with sponsorship from the Department of Theater and Dance and Department of Asian American Studies.