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This year marked the fiftieth anniversary of being in America for many Southeast Asians across the country and yet there are few stories written by Southeast Asians about Southeast Asians performed by Southeast Asians for the American stage.
Philadelphia-based InterAct Theatre Company created the Philly Cycle wherein playwrights are commissioned to create new work that amplifies a community whose stories and experiences are not prevalent in American theatre. Through a partnership with the nonprofits VietLead, Laos in the House, and Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, Lao American playwright Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay was selected to pen a new play inspired by the Southeast Asian (SEA) communities in Philadelphia.
Lan Dinh, Chaiya Vong, and Catzie Vilayphonh join Chaz T. Martin (dramaturg) and Saymoukda in a conversation about the significance of their collaboration, what it’s aiming to foster, and the lasting impact they anticipate for Philadelphia’s Southeast Asian communities. They also chat about the community engagement work being done to build and strengthen InterAct’s relationship with the Southeast Asian community and how they’re, in their words, dismantling barriers for a historically-ignored community to participate in theatre.
This conversation is made possible with support from InterAct Theatre Company, HowlRound Theatre Commons, Theater Mu, and the Mellon Foundation. Saymoukda is currently serving her second term as a playwright in residence at Theater Mu as part of the Mellon Foundation National Playwright in Residency Program.
Panelists’ Bios
Catzie Vilayphonh is an award-winning spoken word poet and writer recognized for her powerful storytelling and unique voice. As a founding member of Yellow Rage, she made history as one of the first Asian American women to appear on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. In 2015, she founded Laos In The House, an organization dedicated to promoting Lao American storytelling through art. Catzie has served on the Mayor's Commission on Asian American Affairs and, in 2018, became the first non-citizen council member on the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Throughout her artistic career Catzie provides an awareness not often heard, drawing from personal narrative. She has been featured on the Smithsonian Channel, and her poetry has been anthologized in MTVbooks’ My Life: Growing Up Asian in America and Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now. Catzie is currently community cultivator at the Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park where she assists in public outreach efforts and advocacy for seventy-four immigrant vendors. A child of refugees, Catzie was born in camp, on the way to America, and thus considers herself part of the 0.5 Generation.
Chaz T. Martin is a first-generation Vietnamese-American writer and dramaturg who can be flattered extravagantly into acting. They are the literary and development manager at InterAct Theatre Company, where they are currently at work on the five-year commission project, The Philly Cycle. Their short screenplay, MELISSA, was one of five projects selected for Tribeca Film Institute’s Through Her Lens program in 2019, and is currently in development as the full-length play I’LL EAT YOU WHOLE with The Foundry at PlayPenn. Their play CLASS C was an O’Neill Semifinalist and was part of the Perlberg Festival of New Plays at Palm Beach Dramaworks in January 2025.
Chaiya Vong is a Cambodian-American civic & digital media cultivator at the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia (CAGP), where he works to empower and uplift the Cambodian community in Philadelphia. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas by Cambodian refugee parents, Chaiya's passion for advocating for his community stems from his own personal experiences. In addition to his work at CAGP, he is a professional technical writer working at some of the largest companies in the mechanical and electrical engineering industry. Chaiya's deep commitment to social impact and expertise in digital media make him a valuable asset to both the tech and refugee/immigrant communities. His ongoing efforts to support and amplify the Cambodian community in Philadelphia reflect his dedication to fostering inclusivity and empowering individuals through various channels.
Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay is a Lao-American playwright, poet, and children's book author. She’s best known for her play KUNG FU ZOMBIES VS CANNIBALS and children’s book WHEN EVERYTHING WAS EVERYTHING. Her plays include KUNG FU ZOMBIES VS SHAMAN WARRIOR, DEAD COPS IN LITTLE MEKONG, BURIED BY THE GARDEN IN LITTLE MEKONG, TITLE IX, and HMONG LAO FRIENDSHIP PLAY. Her work has been presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (New York), Theater Mu (Minnesota), Lower Depth Theater (Los Angeles), Asian Improv Arts (Illinois), and elsewhere. She’s currently a Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Theater Mu, a Jerome@Camargo Artist in Residence in Cassis, France, a Playwrights Center Core Writer, a Lanesboro Arts Artist in Residence, and a Forecast Public Art grantee. Recent honors include a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship, a Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, and a Kennedy Center REACH Office Hours Residency. Other awards include grants and fellowships from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Bush Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation, MAP Fund, Loft Literary Center, and dozens more. Community contributions include serving on the City of Saint Paul Cultural STAR Board and Governor Tim Walz's State Poet Laureate Program Design Committee and Interview & Selection Committee. Her upcoming plays include commissions from Mixed Blood Theatre (Minnesota 2025), Theater Mu (Minnesota 2026), InterAct Theatre Co. (Pennsylvania 2026), and the University of Minnesota Immigration History and Research Center (Minnesota). BA: English, University of Minnesota. MA: Liberal Studies, University of Minnesota. Website. @refugenius
About the Organizational Partners
VietLead
VietLead is a grassroots community organization in Philadelphia and South Jersey that is creating a vision and strategy for community self-determination, social justice, and cultural resilience. We are staffed and led by community members with collectively over twenty-five years serving our community and are committed to working from love and solidarity. Our community programs include intergenerational farming, youth organizing, health navigation and healing, civic engagement, and community defense. We do this through a Heal.Resist.Grow. framework that focuses on a pathway to healing trauma in our communities, contesting for power to make systemic change, policy advocacy/campaigns, and growing community-based solutions. VietLead, founded in September 2015, serves the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian communities in Philadelphia and South Jersey. As descendants of a people impacted by war and trauma, we understand that our community is at different places ideologically, emotionally, and materially, so we must meet our community where they are at and commit to direct services, education, advocacy, and organizing to build unity towards social justice.
Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia
The Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia (CAGP) continues to provide innovative programs and services for the Cambodian, refugee, and immigrant communities since 1979. For over forty-five years, our collective work has addressed the complex social, health, and educational needs of our three generations. We directly impact every age group and generation which includes preschool-aged children through the elderly. CAGP continues to provide exceptional services from two office locations in North and South Philadelphia. The mission of the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia is to improve the quality of life of Cambodian Americans in Greater Philadelphia through direct service, advocacy, and cultural education. The vision of the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia is to empower Cambodian Americans to be productive and successful individuals in society at large.
Laos in the House
The mission of Laos In The House is to promote storytelling in the Lao American refugee community through the mediums of art. By way of programming, events, and partnership projects, we integrate storytelling with art, seeking to engage community members to share their personal stories, allowing us to do it in the way we want to be seen and heard. We acknowledge the work of Lao American artists already sharing their own stories while giving voice to those who cannot do so for themselves, in the hopes of healing the scars of war and beginning the process of regular intercultural, intergenerational exchanges.
InterAct Theatre Company
Philadelphia-based InterAct is a theatre for today's world, dedicated to commissioning, developing, and producing new and contemporary plays that explore the social, political, and cultural issues of our time, and to improving the regional climate for new plays. InterAct utilizes theatre as a tool to promote civic discourse and stimulate dialogue around the most pressing and complex issues we face in contemporary society. InterAct values artistic risk, civic engagement, and diversity.
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