July 13, 2013|
By Lynne Heffley
Cambodian
physician Haing S. Ngor survived torture and slave labor during the Pol
Pot regime, came to Hollywood, won an Oscar for his role as a
journalist in "The Killing Fields" — and lost his life in Los Angeles,
shot to death during an apparent robbery.
In his new play, "Sweet
Karma," at Grove Theater Center in Burbank, playwright Henry Ong frames
Ngor's life and death as a stylized examination of moral complexity,
love and forgiveness. And if the script's mix of earnestness and
gut-punching intensity makes for an uneven dynamic, the play effectively
juxtaposes one individual's personal tragedy and guilt against the
enormity of events suffered under Khmer Rouge rule.
Directed with
considered care by Kevin Cochran, the play opens with the 1996 murder of
Ngor (renamed Vichear Lam here and played with conviction by veteran
actor Jon Jon Briones). Implying a political motivation, Lam's Asian
gun-wielding assailant (Kennedy Kabasares) demands a locket that the
doctor wears concealed around his neck. Lam refuses, is killed and comes
to in an afterlife where death is the catalyst for a journey through
memory, guided by an enigmatic young woman who identifies herself as
Devi (Pauline Yasuda).
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