All posts tagged: Cannibals

Review: Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals is a play Lao Americans shouldn’t miss

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Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals opened this weekend and Little Laos on the Prairie was on hand to see it! The new play by award-winning Lao Minnesotan writer Saymoukda Vongsay opened in the middle of the world’s largest zombie pub crawl and just before the season premiere of the Walking Dead. Its first weekend sold out almost a week in advance. So was it worth it? It’s been a two year journey to bring this play to the stage, an action-packed blend of hip hop, martial arts, Lao history, and buddhism to explore issues the Lao community has never had much chance to discuss all in one package. Is it bumpy? Is it rough in patches? It’s the Laopocalypse on stage. That’s to be expected. Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals doesn’t require a lot of prior understanding or immersion in Lao culture to get an enjoyable experience out of it. Between zombies on stage, cannibals and a beheading, there’s enough to fascinate and terrify an audience. For Lao Americans, it raises some interesting questions all …

Interview with a ‘Phi’ Playwright

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Saymoukda Vongsay isn’t trying to please the masses, she says. This is the friend and fellow writer I know. I also like to refer to her as the All-Lao American badass. In her latest trailblazing play, Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals, there isn’t just cool fight scenes, bloody cannibals, and ghastly zombies to feed our horror fantasies in live action. She’s making her mark and making a point. Mooks (as family and friends know her by) is an artivist who’s addressing our societal ills in a post-apocalyptic landscape from a Lao American perspective. Forbidden to kill and steal, among other things, what would Buddhists do when their moral compass is in question in this kind of world? Mooks explores this with a take on blending the interrelated issues of immigration, neo-Buddhism, and feminism all wrapped into one play. It sets out to be a transformational narrative and the story transcends current interpretations of your typical horror story. Best of all, it’s written by us for us. I sat down with Mooks to talk about how …