By
Dacil Q. Keo
Following villagers’ positive reviews and continued interest from the 2009 national tour, DC-Cam and Amrita Performing Arts will be bringing more performances of Breaking the Silence to the countryside in an effort to reach out to as many Cambodians as possible. This outreach effort is even more critical during this round of performances because of Case 002, the second trial of the Extraordinary Chambers involving the four most senior Khmer Rouge leaders still alive today. Given the significance of the Case 002, DC-Cam will expand its project to include daily radio broadcastings of Breaking the Silence and special classroom performances with high school students starting February 2010. Given the impossibility of brining the millions of Khmer Rouge survivors to the courtroom to meet with tribunal officials and attend Case 002 trial proceedings, increasing the number of performances of Breaking the Silence along with an educational component focused on Case 002 ensures that as many Cambodians as possible in the countryside are informed and involved in the tribunal process. The tribunal is after all, seeking justice for the millions of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Breaking the Silence is a play about the lives of survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime, both victim and former cadre, told in seven tragic stories. These stories reveal the heartache and strength of dealing with the horrific experiences under the Khmer Rouge regime. The characters express feelings of guilt, fear, sadness, confusion, and even hope; each in an attempt to confront and reconcile with their troubling past. The themes of the play, forgiveness and reconciliation, are not forced upon audiences, but rather carefully presented to illustrate the difficult and often times conflicting nature of trying moving forward.
During each of these three outreach programs, DC-Cam will take the opportunity to impart information and promote discussions about Case 002. After each performance of Breaking the Silence, DC-Cam will distribute its booklet, Genocide: Who are the Senior Khmer Rouge Leaders to be Judge, the Importance of Case 002, to audiences during the village discussions that normally follow the play. DC-Cam staff facilitating the village discussions will go over the information presented in the booklet and answer questions. The information in the booklet contains a lengthy profile of each of the four senior Khmer Rouge leaders and the crimes they are charged with. It also contains several photographs of each leader, an explanation of international crimes including the crime of genocide, and Khmer Rouge letters and official documents. Since many Cambodians know very little about the backgrounds of senior Khmer Rouge leaders Noun Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, and Ieng Thirith-and even less about international crimes- this booklet along with the village discussions will help villagers to understand the historic Case 002.
The daily radio broadcasting of Breaking the Silence across three radio stations will likewise entail a special segment that will disseminate information about Case 002. This call-in segment will allow listeners and guest speakers to discuss developments of the trial and related topics of forgiveness and reconciliation. The high school performances will also allow more Cambodians to become familiar with the details of Case 002, in addition to discussing the themes of the play. The inclusion of Breaking the Silence in high school classrooms will help to further strengthen the teaching of the history of Democratic Kampuchea in high schools across the country as part of the Genocide Education project implemented by DC-Cam and the Ministry of Education.
Other outreach activities by DC-Cam this year include local teacher trainings (3,000 teachers) on genocide education across Cambodia’s 1,600 high schools, the publication and distribution of Case 002 booklets-500,000 copies in Khmer and 10,000 copies in English, a second national tour of Breaking the Silence in 12 different locations, biweekly Khmer Rouge film screenings and village forums, the distribution of an additional 700,000 copies of the textbook A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979), and a small community developmental project called Road of Reconciliation.
For more information about Breaking the Silence tour dates and locations, please contact:
Sayana Ser, Tel: 092 763 272, Email: truthsayana.s@dccam.org
Outreach Coordinator, Documentation Center of Cambodia
Suon Bun Rith, Tel: 012 410 044, Email: rithsb@amritaperformingarts.org
Country Director, Amrita Performing Arts
BREAKING THE SILENCE – Performance Schedule for February 2010
Wednesday, 3 at Wat Noreay, Kampot
Thursday, 4 at Wat Noreay, Kampot
Friday, 5 at Kraing Ta Chan, Takeo
Saturday, 6 at Kraing Ta Chan, Takeo
Sunday, 7 at Wat Trapiang Thom, Takeo
Monday, 8 at Wat Trapiang Thom, Takeo
Tuesday, 9 at Moeung Char Commune Office, Takeo
Wednesday, 10 at Moeung Char commune office, Takeo
Thursday, 11 at Wat Moeung Char, Takeo
Friday, 12 at Wat Moeung Char, Takeo
A letter from youk chhang:
Restoring Cambodian Community and way of life: Breaking the Silence
There has been a long silence in this country regarding the Khmer Rouge era, a silence that has lasted for decades and kept alive by fear, pain, and politics.
In recent years however, there have been solid efforts to end this silence in form of legal justice, outreach programs and forthcoming genocide education in high schools in Cambodia. While each measure is valuable for the country's healing process, there needs also to be measures which focus on the emotional and psychological components of reconciliation and healing. This is where art can make a significant contribution. Cambodian people are very artistic and it is their way of life. The Khmer Rouge have killed many artists but not the artistry of the Cambodian people. It is our soul. This play, "Breaking the Silence" produced by Amrita Performing Arts and directed by Annemarie Prins is the most powerful play since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979.
It is a play which seeks to break Cambodia's silence, as evident by its title. It is a play about the Cambodian people, their suffering, anger, and courage to move on no matter the circumstances. Khmer Rouge victims are emotionally broken people living in a broken society; a people without souls or with our souls wandering around. I have found our soul in this play, "Breaking the Silence." This play is very important for all Cambodians to see and hear. It will help restore our dignity and humanity and lift up our morality. It will also help our children to better understand their country. It is my hope that this play, and future plays and radios like it, will have a prominent role in the rebuilding of Cambodian society.
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About Me
- Duong Dara
- Dara Duong was born in 1971 in Battambang province, Cambodia. His life changed forever at age four, when the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975. During the regime that controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979, Dara’s father, grandparents, uncle and aunt were executed, along with almost 3 million other Cambodians. Dara’s mother managed to keep him and his brothers and sisters together and survive the years of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, when the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia, she did not want to live under Communist rule. She fled with her family to a refugee camp on the Cambodian-Thai border, where they lived for more than ten years. Since arriving in the United States, Dara’s goal has been to educate people about the rich Cambodian culture that the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy and about the genocide, so that the world will not stand by and allow such atrocities to occur again. Toward that end, he has created the Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, which began in his garage and is now in White Center, Washington. Dara’s story is one of survival against enormous odds, one of perseverance, one of courage and hope.
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