Interview with a ‘Phi’ Playwright
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 …
