Say your names.
My name is Monta.
My name is Daddy.
My name is Mommy.
Seegsman.
Leopard.
Neetan.
Soopie.
Cowboy.
Cat in this bag, okay? And make us believe if something alive is in there, alright? Alright.
He's going to try.
Everybody watch.
Come on.
Okay, go.
Adjusting through acting was an innovative workshop for Southeast Asian youths in Chicago's uptown neighborhood.
Designed to instill greater self -confidence in adjusting to their new country, the workshop introduced Cambodian and Laotian kids ages 10 to 17 to theater games and acting techniques.
Created by Janice Finney, a Chicago playwright and director, adjusting through acting was sponsored by Travelers and Immigrants Aid and was supported by a Neighborhood Arts Project grant through the Chicago Office of Fine Arts and a Chairman's grant from the Illinois Arts Council.
The adjusting through acting workshop met twice a week from October 1984 to February 1985 in facilities donated by Truman College.
One project used the Hansel and Gretel story as a point of departure for the youths to tell their real life stories.
The workshop extended to field trips outside the classroom.
On the edge of a small clearing near a great forest there lived a poor woodcutter and his wife and his two children, Hansel and Gretel.
The wife was a children's self -mother and she was very cruel to them.
They had always been very poor but one time there was a great famine in a country and a woodcutter could not earn even enough to buy any food for his family.
The poor woodcutter worries day and night.
Finally he said to his wife, what shall we do? We will surely starve.
The food we have left is not enough for the children.
Let's alone for us.
My name is Momkid and what I'm going to tell you, I tell you because I don't want it to happen to anybody else or to any other country.
The communists won in 1975.
They burned all the houses in my village.
They killed many, many peoples.
They killed the people who are the leaders of our country and the people who are educated.
In my village many families are rounded up and killed when they try to escape.
One family, they brought back and put them in a circle and tied their hands behind their backs, then throw a bomb and kill them all except the baby.
So they say he must not leave either.
So they throw the baby up in the air and he landed on the knife on the end of the gun and died.
You're going to pretend that there's a bunch of rocks in here, okay? Very heavy, all right? Make us believe it.
What could it be? Keep going, Polly.
Heavy, heavy.
Stone.
Try picking it up.
See if you can get it up off the floor.
Lazy.
I'm longer than that.
Oh.
Okay, good, good.
In this bag, okay? Can you do that for me? You know nothing.
Do something with us to show us that there's nothing in this bag.
Yeah, thank you.
Okay, here we go.
Use it.
Use it.
It's nothing.
Oh, yeah.
Oh.
It was in the bag.
Yeah.
There.
What was in the bag? Nothing.
I told you, see? Okay, good.
Nothing.
Nothing was in the bag.
You think you're going to get married soon? I don't know.
Yeah? I don't know.
I don't know.
How old are girls usually in Cambodia when they get married? 17, 16.
17? Yeah.
And how old are you now? I'm 17.
You're going to get married now? No, not so soon.
I'm too young.
Do they arrange, do parents pick who your husband's going to be or do you pick? My parents.
You don't have a say in who you marry? Do you like that? I don't know.
But my parents have to ask me first if I like that or not.
And if you say you didn't like it? Then they won't.
But some parents, you know, they force the girl, the daughter to marry whoever they like.
But my parents, they don't do that.
They won't force you? No.
How would they pick a man, how would a parent pick a husband for their daughter? What would be the...
Sometimes, you know, the boy, maybe the parents, I don't know how to say.
It's like my father has a friend and his friend has a son, you know.
So a friend is a family? Yeah.
Do they like it's...
In America, parents like their children to marry somebody with money.
Is that important? Yeah, important too.
Money? And rich.
Rich.
What about like Polly and Juan T? I don't know.
How is it, Nethan, how does it work? I don't...
What happens? How does your mother decide or your father decide? My mom and my dad, they don't like each other.
And her mom tells her to marry my dad.
That's what happens because of their arranged marriages? Yeah.
Who will you marry? This guy.
Get a married bond? No.
Does the boy pick the girl? Yeah.
And then what does he do? How does he tell her that she wants her? Does he tell her or her parents? Sometimes the parents.
What happens? Sometimes they tell each other.
They say they like.
And what do the parents say? I don't know.
What is a wedding like in Laos? Is it beautiful? What do you do? What do you do? No, not the boy.
Come on, hand up.
Take the card.
Okay, you.
Say it in English.
Okay, you.
You put your shirt in.
No.
You take the zipper.
Hey, you.
Come on, you.
No, okay.
Hey, you.
Hey, you.
Hey, you.
Oh, first he got a body now he's taking off.
No, no, no.
You put your hat.
You put your hat.
You put the zipper in here? No.
Hey, you.
Go.
Go.
Now, although the old woman seemed so kind, she was a wicked witch who ate little children.
So while Hansel and Greta were sleeping, she was thinking of the fine meal she would have.
Okay, Peter, one time you told me about the time you and your sister were walking across the field and you came across all these bodies hanging in the woods.
And their necks were slashed.
And they took the belly to be eaten.
And they took their livers, their livers? The belly.
The belly to eat them.
How many people were there? Ten.
How many? I don't know how many, but it's a lot.
How, were you, what were you doing with your sister in the woods? In the woods? When you were walking with your sister? Yeah.
Was that before the Khmer Rouge or after? After that.
Who do you think did that, the Khmer Rouge? Mm -hmm.
And who do you think, was it the soldiers who killed them that took their stomachs, or who did that? Just people.
In the Khmer Rouge, they don't let him eat.
Don't have anything to eat.
Some people kill some people to eat them.
Like the food.
Oh.
They waited till people died, though, didn't they? They didn't kill people to eat them.
You know, some people are sick.
They can't kill him, then they kill him.
Okay, Hansel were free.
She cried it, the old witch is dead.
Okay, right.
Go, stop.
You guys are green and red.
Just don't say, don't say green and red.
Okay, red light, green light.
Yeah, red light means stop, green light means go, right? Okay, now, you know how to do this? That's what I think.
Anybody that you saw moving, you have to send them back.
Send them back if you see somebody moving.
Ray, stop.
You're a fool.
Go to the back.
I stopped.
No, get out.
No, I stopped.
I didn't stop.
No, when you say you have to get out.
No, no, I didn't stop.
You have to get out.
Maybe he eats some people.
Ghosts? Yeah, last.
They live on a big tree.
A big tree.
And long hair.
Yeah, the way they look like, pajamas, the woman, she wear white, white like a pajama, and the long hair, they make their lips red, right? Then they scare people.
They live on a big tree.
And how do they country? I don't know, they just kill.
They call? Yeah, they call by the phone.
When you pick up, then you say hello, then that's why you're dead.
You mean they call you on the phone, lady? Yeah.
When you hang up the phone, then you're dead.
The blood come out of your nose.
People really die like that? In Wisconsin and Washington.
Lots of people die.
What do they look like in this country, the ghosts? Like people.
They look like us, right? He wear sunglasses.
Wear sunglasses? Yeah.
He never take his sunglasses out.
But they could do magic, right? What is that? They take the money, the ghosts.
They take the money? Yeah.
Well, why are they doing this? I don't know.
I don't know.
How do you get rid of a ghost? How do you get rid of a ghost? You have to call a monk.
Uh -huh.
Do you wear anything? Or what do you...
Yeah, wear something.
What? Like cigar.
How can I love that? Oh, some look like...
Like this one.
See this thing? Yeah, like that.
Now, will that keep the ghost away? Yeah.
Does everybody wear one? No.
I have item wear.
Uh -huh.
How did the ghosts get to this country from your country? They ride a...
A plane.
Airplane.
They took an airplane.
Maybe they come by the people.
They come with his wife and his son or daughter who are dead.
Who are dead? Yeah.
They're dead.
Oh, I see.
If someone dies in a family, and then they move to the America, is that it? Not his family.
Just only the husband, they die right there.
The family, they don't know.
Just only the husband died.
The family don't know that.
But his husband was a ghost.
I don't know.
I'm lost.
Your body.
So then...
It stinks inside.
Something stinks.
You know, when you open the door, it stinks.
When they knock the door right there, then go open it, it stinks.
Nobody there.
You just smell something.
Yeah, it stinks.
What does it smell like? Like before death.
Like a person's death.
Like a person's death.
Like a person's death.
Like a mouth or something.
Yeah.
Like a mouth death.
Oh, a mouth death.
Then what would you do if that happened to you? If someone knocked and you don't even smell that, what would you do? We didn't even open the door.
We don't know.
We think somebody's cooking.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Has anybody had a ghost in their house? No.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Since we understand that the majority of the teenagers lost the touch of the Cambodian culture, and then the Cambodian leaders, I mean community leaders in Chicago, are trying hard to organize traditional ceremonies, cultural activities, so that we can bring all or bring part of the culture back to the Cambodian children to be in touch with their culture and their arts.
Being exposed to this kind of thing, we can make the Cambodian children feel proud of their own culture so that they can identify themselves in the future.
What we are doing this is not aiming to have the Cambodian children to aim to go back to Cambodia, but what we intend to do is just make them feel confident of themselves or identify themselves who they are so that they can have something to hang on, and for a long run they have hope to build the future and help themselves.
The Cambodian children are not just a part of the Cambodian culture.
They are part of the Cambodian culture.
The Cambodian boys like to play cards and stuff, right? Yeah.
Where? They play, what do you call it? I forget the game.
The kate.
The kate.
Their parents don't like them to play cards, how come? No, they just play for fun, I think.
My cousin, he plays for fun, he's not playing for money.
Someone told me that they're starting a Cambodian boys' game.
A game? Yeah, on the lake side.
On the lake, you know? Are they rough? No, it's not.
It's not.
I don't know about the game.
Why are they doing that? I think they play for money, I don't know, for fun.
I mean the game, you know, a game of boys like the other kids.
Yeah, I think they want to, you know? I kind of plan on, I don't know about it.
Is it because of all the other games and screw that the Americans have? Yeah, I think they learn from that.
They want to look just like the Americans did.
So they have a game? Yeah.
Would you join a gang of Cambodian kids? No, I don't think so.
Why not? Because I don't like the way they act.
To be or...? Yeah, they're mean and they say a lot of bad words.
And they do bad stuff to little kids.
Why? I don't know.
I want to ask them to, but that's not my friend.
Do they ever try to have fights with like the other gangs in this uptown? Yeah, I think Spanish.
Spanish.
Do they teach each other how to fight? I think so, but I don't know anything about that.
Do they try to get you to join? No, I didn't talk to them.
I didn't meet them, I didn't talk to them.
Do you like going to the game room? Before, yes, but now I don't like.
How come you don't like it anymore? I think it's full.
I was playing about $20 on one day.
Oh, you lost $20? No, I played.
My mother tell me if you want to play, play one day and stop forever.
Then I play $20 and I don't like to play anymore.
Your mother's smart.
Yeah, I think so.
Who gave you the $20, your mother? No, I work from Michigan, pick blueberry.
Oh yeah, what was that like? Did you like Michigan? Sure, it's quiet there, no gang and it's good.
Yeah? Yeah, it's good, very good.
Yeah? And you know in the morning it's quiet, only Saturday and Sunday they have people at the lake.
If it, I mean Monday to Friday, there's no people quiet because they work.
Yeah, I...
Yeah, I...
Do you remember the first time you saw snow? Yeah.
What did you think of it? I don't know.
You don't remember? Did you try tasting it? Because I know, my mom told me that.
In Cambodia, when it was rain? When in Thailand, I have an American friend, I mean teacher, and she told me about the snow and then I played with the snow the first time.
Did it look like what you thought it would look like? Huh? Did it look like when in Thailand, did you picture what it might look like? Oh, I know, I watched a movie.
Oh, you watched a movie? Yeah, American movie and I saw it.
It was scary, Americans are really shocked by what they saw, but somebody said the movie really wasn't as bad as it really was.
Yeah, it's true.
What was worse? I mean, why wasn't it real? Why do you think it wasn't real? There was shots, some of them they cut head out.
The only shot they showed, they shot people.
In the movie, the only shot? Yeah, but some other they cut head out.
In the killing fields, those scenes are very, very true, very, very real, but not real enough, and not true enough, and not bad enough, and not suffering enough for my own people, Cambodian people.
They set off through the woods, determined to find their way home, but though Hansel and Gretel walked it and walked it, they were still lost, and not a thing looked familiar.
Just when they had given up hope, they heard a happy cry.
There was their father coming towards them.
Hansel and Gretel cried to their father, hurrying to help them.
I have looked and looked for you.
He took them home, and Hansel and Gretel found that their cruel stepmother had gone away forever.
They took them home, and Hansel and Gretel found that their cruel stepmother had gone away forever.
They took them home, and Hansel and Gretel found that their cruel stepmother had gone away forever.
They took them home, and Hansel and Gretel found that their cruel stepmother had gone away forever.
They were able to live comfortably, happily, and happily.
They were able to live comfortably, happily, and happily ever after.
Remember, this is Cunadai.
We learned this last year.
Remember this? Like what? Like this? Yeah, he taught, yeah.
I don't know the answer.
I don't know.
I don't know too.
I don't know.
