Finding one's place

Chantria, you've said your parents wanted you to be a "perfect Cambodian daughter..."

Growing up I always felt like I had to play a role. I had to know how to cook, how to clean, how to perfectly greet my elders and give them respect and say yes no matter what. That to me is being the perfect Cambodian girl, being quiet and polite and not taking up space. Theatre is the opposite, and I had to fight that in my training too.

I recognize myself in a lot of what she says, because I also come from an immigrant family. I was 11 when we came here from Poland. Even though they are completely separate worlds, I can see the similarities between our families. And Chantria is in charge of the text and I'm in charge of the directing but we always work together, I was involved a lot in the process.

It's a play that resonates with people no matter where they come from, because ultimately it's a story about growing up. No matter where we grow up and how we grow up, we always want to be different than what our parents want us to be, or are. It's a story about finding a balance. It's also an intergenerational struggle that's always present. If you're parents are born in the '50s, they look at things very differently than you would if you were born 20 years ago. Times change and politics change.

The main thing for me growing up was sex. That's something I never spoke to my parents about. I felt that it was known that you just don't speak to them about it, and you hide the fact that you know anything about it, or else you'd be in trouble.

I never had that conversation. I think this play is my conversation with them. When you're a teenager you just react, and you don't understand why they don't understand! This process, though, has opened that up between my parents and I, because I've had to ask them questions and interview them.

I can't tell whether it's just that there are not enough people of different backgrounds that are working in theatre or that there is no place for them, or both. I think more people would go see theatre if it was more multicultural. They would see people they can connect to and relate to. Most people think of theatre as being for rich people or something they can't understand. We're hoping to break that wall with this show.

Someone Between will run at Monument National as part of Asian Heritage Month from May 15th to 17th.